Fun weekend

We had a great weekend! Here are a few pictures.

First up - Thursday night we went to the Urbans' house for Wheat State Pizza dinner. Julie had PWS (Prichard Withdrawal Syndrome) and Jeremy had MWS (Molly Withdrawal Syndrome) so it was a good remedy for everyone. And yes, I know Thursday's not technically the weekend, but I'm still posting these here.

Jeremy and his buddy Molly

Molly actually lets us tickle her feet now - she used to hate having her feet touched.

Seriously, how could you not love this kiddo?

On Saturday, we attended the wedding of our friends Christine and Karl. We arrived early in the morning to help decorate the reception site, then decorated the church, then went to the ceremony and reception, and then helped clean up. It almost felt like a day trip even though we were just in downtown Lawrence!! I posted a few photos on facebook so I won't repeat them here, and you can see all 364 photos I took at this link: http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=e5d37cbe19618283&sid=8Yat2LNo4YvQ

The happy couple. Congratulations, Karl and Christine!

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween! I spent the past couple of weeks working at Fun and Games, a locally owned store that sells costumes, wigs, accessories, and tons of other things. I got to see a ton of fun costumes and got a chance to exercise my creativity in a way that I normally don't.

Last night, we went to a party at Steve and Chris Tuckers'. Here are some pics from the evening.

Jeremy and I as "Swine Flu"

Our hosts. Chris was "The Plague" and Steve was "The Grim Reaper"

Jason - the Best Overall Costume - "Gnome on a Toadstool"

Ryan as a Roman gladiator and Emily (and baby) as "Deviled Egg"

Karl and Christine as the "King and Queen of Hearts"

Philip as "Indiana Jones," Marcella as "the Chiquita lady,"

and Lydia as "a bunch of bananas"

Our Funniest Costume trophy!

A very belated post...

but Happy 30th birthday, Jeremy!

A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated with a surprise party at Free State Brewery. Somehow I managed to keep Jeremy from finding out the truth until we got there - he thought that we were going to meet a historian from Stanford. I can't take credit for that idea (thanks, Sheyda!) but I'm still impressed that I didn't blow it. :)

Here are some pictures from the evening.

The cake

Jeremy still in shock over the surprise (and I also love Amanda's big grin!)

Steven Tucker, Jason Roe, Ryan and Emily Gaston, and James Quinn

Sheyda Jahanbani, Jonathan Hagel, Lena Withers, and Christine Anderson

Kristen Epps, Amanda Schlumpberger, Chris Tucker, and Lindsey Roe

The Banz Family - Bryan, Julia, and Will. Will gets the award for being the youngest guest there!

Jeremy, Adam Prichard, and Brandon Urban

It was awesome that Adam could make it down from Nebraska to celebrate with us!

Proof that even though he's old, Jeremy still has good lung capacity.

The birthday boy and his wife. :)

Betty's wedding

On June 20, my dear friend and college roommate Betty Martinez married Frankie Montilla in Dallas. It was a beautiful wedding! I enjoyed getting a chance to catch up with old friends and also spending some time with my family. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

All the gals at Girl's Night Out

Betty and Frankie at their rehearsal dinner

I like to call this one, "I don't think I'm going to band today."

A Wedding Story comes to life!

(Betty and Katie and I used to watch a Wedding Story on TLC right before BUGWB rehearsal)

The best shot I got of the back of Betty's dress.

This does not do it justice at all - it was BEAUTIFUL!!

My grandparents won the generations dance, and got to share a spotlight song with Betty and Frankie. Papa's advice for a long marriage was "Trust in God" - good advice and quite possibly the shortest sentence he's ever spoken. :)

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. You all know me well - you know that I took hundreds of pics and not just these! I thought I'd just share the highlights. If you want to see all of the pics I took, go to: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8Yat2LNo4Ysc

Introducing Will!

As I alluded to in the previous entry, Baby Banz is here!!

William Andrew Banz was born June 8 at 1:53 a.m. He was 6 lbs 13 oz and 19 inches long. Proud parents are our good friends Julia and Bryan. William's arrival was a bit of a surprise - he wasn't due for another three weeks! He's doing really well and so are Mommy and Daddy.

William Andrew Banz

Will and Mommy Julia - just about 8 hours after Will was born!

Julie holding Will

Keri and Will

Jeremy and Will

Will, you have a super Mommy and Daddy and a great group of their friends ready to cheer you on as you grow up! Welcome to the world, little man!

A great weekend for a BBQ

We had a BBQ over at Julia and Brian's house on Friday. It was a beautiful evening! The food was all delicious, and there was enough to feed about twice as many people as we had (which is a great problem to have). We had lots of fun visiting with everyone and playing washers.

And, expect another update from me very soon - these pictures of a very pregnant Julia are already out of date! :)

You know you haven't blogged in a while when...

your husband who never reads the blog mentions that you haven't updated it. May was crazy to say the least! As always, it was the crazy busiest month at work, and this year we had lots of fun things too, so when I wasn't with friends or family or at work, I was sleeping! :) Here's what's been going on since I last blogged.

I'm now back at Jazzercise! My foot has healed enough that I can participate in most of each class. I still can't stand on tip toe, and my balance isn't awesome... but with some low-impact mixed in, I'm there the whole time. This has been a great thing for my mood and sanity, and for my health too - since being back the last four weeks, I've already lost 4.5 pounds, which should tell you just how flabby I'd gotten sitting around the house. Crazy!

Jeremy's cousin Alissa had her baby shower in Wichita over Mother's Day weekend. It was great to see his aunts and cousins at the shower, and then we got to see the rest of Jeremy's family during the trip as well. It was nice to see his mom on Mother's Day!

Alissa and the hostesses Leslie and Sheila

Alissa opening presents

Uncle Jeremy and Natalie sporting their hair bows

Jeremy and I took our first trip to see the "New K" this month as well. The remodeled stadium was beautiful! There's a carousel, mini-golf, tons of kids games, and lots of new features and amenities. The Royals lost, as always it seems, but we still had a great time.

Aren't we cute?

The new scoreboard

Jeremy with his childhood hero George Brett

the new carousel

Jeremy put on his rally cap to help. Too bad it wasn't successful!

Jeremy participated in the CLAS Master's Hooding Ceremony at KU during graduation weekend. He technically completed the requirements in February, but KU only grants degrees three times a year, so he's a May graduate. We had a wonderful time at the hooding and then continued to celebrate with a party at the Urban's home. Jeremy's family and mine all came into town to celebrate his accomplishment.

Jeremy receiving his hood from Dr. Earle

Jeremy and Dr. Earle

Jeremy and Keri

Jeremy with his dad, brother Adam, and sister Ariane

Jeremy with Aunt Marcy, Grandma, and Grandpa

Jeremy, Keri, my grandparents, my sister Kristi, and Natalie

Jeremy with his mom, brother, sister, and Natalie

Jeremy with my mom and a goofy Natalie!

Jeremy with Baby Jay and Natalie

We got a picture like this at the BA graduation as well, and hope to get another one at the Ph.D. graduation. Jeremy jokes that if Natalie chooses to go to KU, she'll have to hold him for a picture with a Jayhawk when she graduates. We also got a ton of pics with Natalie and the Jayhawk statue in front of the Union, but I didn't post those here because of space (so family, let me know if you want them!).

Yum! Food at the Urban's house

Natalie is telling Jeremy what to color, while tackling him. It was too funny!

Jeremy with fellow history graduate students Jason, Steven, Christine, and Karl. Jason and Steven both received their M.A.'s this semester, and Christine received her Ph.D. last fall but participated in all of the festivities since KU doesn't have a fall graduation. Karl is working on his Ph.D. at KU and is engaged to Christine.

A glimpse of the future?

Adam is now stationed in Omaha, NE, and we were fortunate to have him come for another visit at the beginning of Memorial Day weekend. He and Jeremy played Guitar Hero non-stop while I was at work. I did my best to catch up when I got home!

I've also been enjoying the Wii Fit - most fun game EVER.

This past weekend, we threw Julia a baby shower. She's due in just 4 weeks (or maybe even less by now!). She is quite possibly the cutest pregnant gal there ever was - no offense to all the rest of my friends that are pregnant, but just look at her! :) We had a great time and we can't wait to meet "Mercedes" or "Rubber" very soon!

Megan made the cakes - they say Baby Banz. They were so cute and tasted so good!

Onesie clothesline

Diaper wreath

Julia with hostesses Megan, Julie, and Keri

Shannon's son Tyler and I were having a little too much fun with my camera

Whew! It was a busy month!


As June begins, we're enjoying some time off. Jeremy and I rarely have time where we both have nothing scheduled, so we're enjoying spending time together doing random things around town. The biggest excitement in our lives this week is that we're house sitting/ cat nannying for a friend. Gobo is a hilarious cat who is on a diet, and is therefore hungry ALL THE TIME. He loves attention, especially when it's followed by walking to the kitchen counter to scoop out his meal. It's been fun hanging out with him (and even more fun when I haven't forgotten my Allegra!).

The other big news is that there's only 26 days left until we go to Britain!! We're super excited, and are starting to tackle all of the random little tasks that come with being out of the country for a month.