I apologize for my absence...

...but I have been on vacation.  

On Thursday, Charlie, Abbie & I hopped on a Southwest flight to spend 4 glorious days in the beautiful & spectacular state of Colorado.

We traveled there to celebrate a very important anniversary.  10 years of friendship with these wonderful people.

During this time, I...

• enjoyed the breathtaking scenery
• ate too much food
• spent too much money
• skied until my body couldn't take it anymore
• soaked my aching muscles in a hot tub
• drank enough to feel a buzz but not so much that I had my head in the toilet
• partied a little too late for a mother
• bonded with my family 
• got away from a job that was making me very irritable
• laughed so hard until I cried
• slept very few hours but yet still had the energy to tend to a toddler the next morning
• successfully traveled with possibly the best child ever

Now it's back to reality. Back to working eight hour days, housework, losing the 4 lbs I gained over vacation, cooking dinners, blogging, learning HTML, scheduled bath times and early bed times.  God I miss you already, Colorado.  Hope to see you again soon.

Video of the Week

A view into our home Christmas morning. Technically this was Abbie's 2nd Christmas but the first one that she enjoyed now that she is a bit older.

Christmas Morning 2010 from Megan Vogt on Vimeo.

Video of the Week

I know, I know.  It's been one month to the day since I have posted a video of the week.  You see, I was busy planning the best birthday party a one year old could have.  Then I went a week long Nebraska vacation for Thanksgiving.  While on vacation I produced this video while on the road with my husband's laptop.  I had every intention to post it when we got back.  But I encountered a problem getting the program to spell my daughters name correctly in the credits.  "Abbie" in Windows Movie Maker changed to "Abbi" when I published it in Windows Media Player.  So after numerous attempts at completely redoing the credits, changing the format of the credits, completely changing the font throughout the whole video, I finally said SCREW IT and just added her last name to the credits.  Wah la!!  Problem fixed!! 

These pictures were taken back on November 6th at the home of Stephanie Phillips.  She is a wonderful and talented woman who takes THE.BEST.PICTURES of anyone I know and she is very affordable. 

I hope you enjoy this video and I promise to get my act together and start posting videos again on a weekly basis.

Vogt Family Pictures from Megan Vogt on Vimeo.

Things I learned on our vacation...

*Nebraska has one of the best state motto's.

*The boat scene in Weekend at Bernie’s is possibly the funniest part of the movie.

*Onawa, IA has the widest Main St in the USA.

*The toll bridge going over the Missouri river in Decatur, no longer gives you a coin for your return back over the bridge.

*It takes twice as long to get Abbie to sleep while on vacation.

*Abbie does not sleep the whole night through while in a Pack n Play.

*The shittiest roads in Iowa are better maintained then the best roads in Tulsa.

*Never trust your Garmin in telling you what time you will arrive at your destination. It doesn’t take into account speeding.

*You never feel you have washed all the soap off of your body when you are showering in soft water.

*87 Octane fuel is higher in price in Nebraska then it is in Oklahoma.

*My grandmother’s Boston Terrier was born in 1900.

*Always remember to take the pans out of Mom’s oven before preheating it.

*It is the “ass-crack of dawn” not the “crack ass of dawn”.

*Never blog late at night.

*People yell at their kids at Walmart's in Nebraska too.

*I do not like stuffed green peppers, but I will eat Stuffed Green Pepper soup.

*Never be tempted to buy cheap wine at Walmart just because you can.

*I can not let a horse eat treats out of my bare hand.

*I miss & love my father very much and wish things were like they used to be.

*A self propelled vacuum is the way to go.

*A Prairie Fire shot isn’t nearly as bad as people make it out to be.

*Abbie did NOT inherit her mother’s hatred for chocolate.

*Abbie DID inherit her mother’s love for Taco John’s and Wendy’s vanilla Frostys.

*If my memory serves me right, this was the first time I had seen my favorite (sorry Kevin) stepbrother, Dan, in person since his wedding in 2004. 

*And the first time I had ever met my handsome nephew, Cael.

*Burger King now has tiaras along with their crowns.

*A one year old gets tired of sitting in her car seat about 3 hours into the 8 hour car ride home.

*A Honda Element isn’t the best vehicle to drive in high, gusty winds.

*One can get car sick from riding in a car with a fussy child and gusty winds.

*It takes about 15 min to go one mile when you are going 5 mph.

*Charlie did approximately 85% of the driving on this trip.

*The drive home always seems twice as long as the drive to Nebraska.

*Always remember to take out your trash before you leave on a week long vacation.

*After being away from home, there is nothing like crawling into your own bed for a good night's sleep.

Thankful on a Thanksgiving Thursday

A family in good health.

Having exactly four days of vacation left so I could spend the entire week of Thanksgiving with my family & friends in Nebraska.

A family of great cooks.

Losing seven pounds before Thanksgiving so I could enjoy myself without counting calories on vacation.

In laws that enjoy drinking wine during the holidays.

A daughter that likes to take naps while driving long distances.

Long stretches of highway with no patrolman in sight so we can get to Thanksgiving dinner on time.

Friends who like Jose Quervo.

Family bonding at the crack ass of dawn on Black Friday.

Two energetic dogs who miss us terribly while we are gone so they become destructive while alone at Grandma & Grandpa’s house.

An amazing husband who doesn’t mind driving the two lane highways of Nebraska and Iowa.

Mommy's Little Turkey

Video of the Week

Friday evening was so beautiful that I swung by and got some sandwiches after work then loaded up the family (minus the dogs) and headed to the park. We had a little picnic then went over to the playground to take Abbie on the swings. She loves to sit out on the glider on our porch but that is when she is securely seated in her parents lap. As you can see by this video, she isn't too sure of what to think of this big mammoth swing. She isn't freaking out but she doesn't really seem to be digging it either. And I always say how fast my baby girl is growing up but when we put her in this swing, she looked so tiny!!

Swing, Swing from Megan Vogt on Vimeo.

Don't worry, I'm not lost.

So I’m sure you have been wondering…where is Megan? It’s been almost two weeks since her last blog. You were ready to send out a search party for me, weren’t you? Don’t worry, I’m still here. I haven’t been hospitalized or been on some exotic vacation where I sit on the beach sipping on Margaritas and having some young male apply lotion to my pasty white skin. I think I would blind the poor lad and scar him for life with my giggly, post baby body. But I do have an excuse for the long absence. I have been playing hostess with the mostess. Last week was a busy week in the Vogt household. My steppy type father made a visit on the 30th. He is a truck driver and we had found out the day before that he had to drop off and pick up a load nearby. He left his truck in the Wal-Mart parking lot and came and spent the evening with his favorite (whoops, did I let that slip) granddaughter. Abbie wasn’t too sure what to think of him. She has been going through stranger danger these days. But about a good 40 min later, she & Grandpa B were the best of friends. It was nice having him visit even if it was only for a short time. We hope he gets many more loads down this way.

Every year for Labor Day weekend, we usually have a big party at our house and we invite “The Group”. That refers to the bunch of friends that I used to work with at Affiliated Foods Midwest. We received that name from another coworker that didn’t care for us too much. We have been friends for almost 10 years and have many memories together. Well this year, things didn’t work for everyone to come down so we just had Shelly & her boyfriend, Dave, flew in from Colorado. Dave and Charlie have a lot of the same interests so they get a long great. Neither of them is big into sports so we never once had a football game on (kind of hard to do anyway since we no longer have cable). They are also both big motor heads so they spent one day putting breaks on Charlie’s 1967 Firebird. Shelly & I went and got a massage the day they arrived, did a little bit of shopping and laid around the house. We also went out as a group for Mexican food and Margaritas, spent a day at the zoo and had a late night of grilling, drinking and story telling around the firepit on the deck. I can tell that it’s been a while since I’ve drank any alcohol. I was pretty tipsy by the end of the night. But don’t worry, I pumped and dumped all weekend so Abbie didn’t feel a thing!!

Well that is what has been happening with the Vogts over the past couple of weeks. I hope to fill you in on some milestones with Abbie over the next couple of weeks. She is definitely growing up and becoming Mommy’s big girl.

Video of the Week

My mom came to visit on Wednesday from Nebraska. The temps were 100+ the whole time she was here so we didn't want to do much outside. On Saturday, we went to the mall to go shopping and let Abbie ride on the carousel. This was the second time she has gotten to ride it and as you can see, she isn't much of a fan.


Carousel with Grandma from Megan Vogt on Vimeo.

Beautiful Weekend with Fam

May is here!! Can you believe it!! This year is going so fast. Maybe it's because I have a child, I don't know. Just seems like the other day I was ending my maternity leave and going back to work. I have been back to work for 4 months!! Where does time go?

Anyway, May starts a busy month for the Vogt household. We have/will have family coming to visit us throughout the month. So I will have plenty of blog posts this month. This past weekend, we got the pleasure of spending it with Charlie's grandma and great aunt & uncle. They are going on this month long road trip. His aunt & uncle left California last week and drove to Nebraska which took 3 days. Spent a few days at his grandmas house and then all three of them loaded up in his aunt's Saturn and drove 8 hrs down to Oklahoma. They arrived Friday night and stayed until Sunday morning. Their other stops are Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi and Chicago. They plan on being back in Nebraska on the 24th to drop off Grandma and then his aunt & uncle will head back to California after Memorial Day. I guess that is one of the pleasures of being retired. You can go on month long vacations. Something I get to look forward to in 40 years.

We were dumbfounded on where we could take three older people and baby. So we decided on going to the Rose Garden in Tulsa. I had only been there once and found it so beautiful. I also thought it would be a good place to take Abbie. She would be able to see all of the colorful roses and feel their texture.

After the Rose Garden we headed over to the Teaching Gardens. It's a beautiful place. They had a pond full of Koi fish and an area where they planted herbs & vegetables and a very cool fountain. At one time I had a landscaped backyard. The woman who lived here before us loved to landscape. It was absolutely beautiful. But I was not educated on plants and didn't have the desire to sit out in the Oklahoma heat to pull weeds. So we dug up or let everything die. Now our backyard is being invaded by weeds. Not relaxing one bit. This is what is relaxing to me.

After the gardens, we headed over to ORU to show them the praying hands. It's just something you have to see when you are in Tulsa.

By this time it was around 1:30 and we had worked up an appetite so we headed over to Braums and satisfied our sweet tooth with some ice cream. What a better way to end a day out, right? We spent the rest of the afternoon & evening around the dining room table playing games. I finally learned how to play Bunco. It was pretty fun. I'm sure it would be a whole lot more fun when you play on a league. Is that what they call it? A league? Anyway, it was fun and I'm sure a lot more fun when you bring money into it. We then broke out the Uno Attack game and played it for a good 4 hours. Aunt Nadya ended up winning and Charlie never won a game. They love the game. You know how it works, instead of picking a card, you hit this plunger and wait to see what you will get. Sometimes you get nothing and sometimes cards shoot out like mad. I also made Chicken & Dumplings for dinner. My mother always told me that Chicken & Dumplings is comfort food and should be eaten when it's cold but I disagree. Chicken & Dumplings is something I make when I have company visiting because it makes so much and I won't end up with as many leftovers. It was a hit and everyone loved it. I also had enough in leftovers to take to work for the next couple of days.


Sunday morning we woke up and went to breakfast at a cafe in town. I had Abbie on my lap and shared my biscuits & gravy with her. Well more like shared the gravy with her. She loved it!! Then she sat on my lap and entertained the table with her babbling and got so excited that she knocked over my glass of OJ. There was quite a bit left but thankfully Abbie & I dodged it and most of it went on the table and floor. After cleaning up the table and mopping up the floor, we decided it was time to go. Aunt Nadya took a few pictures of us out by the car and then they were off. It was nice visiting with them and seeing Abbie interact with her great grandma. She loved her to death. Here is a video I shot of them after dinner. Sorry for the noise, I was doing dishes while recording this.

Now I am preparing for my sister & brother in law's visit. They will be leaving Nebraska tonight, spending the night somewhere along the way and arriving at my house tomorrow. They plan to stay the weekend and leave on Sunday. So stay tuned next week to hear what fun & exciting things we did with them.