The Noehren's

I have been having so much fun lately helping Brian out as his personal marketing professional!!  He needed help branding and marketing his lab - the works.  We created a new name and I designed the above logo.  I also designed a new backdrop for his new lab Facebook page and wrote the text in the 'about' section.  Check it out!  I helped him organize his message and wrote the text for his website (that should be updated soon).  I am kinda digging it.  Just like the good ole days.  This stuff makes me happy and helps me remember why I chose a career in marketing.  Now let's make some t-shirts!

Guess what I am NOT going to do this week for the first time in three years?  Go to work!!  I am literally giddy with excitement, and full of gratitude all at the same time.  For those that don't know the backstory - here you go: Three years ago really expensive things kept breaking ( this  was the last card to fall in a long line of things.)  Our financial reserves were pitiful since we were still recovering from the dirt poor PhD life.  The thought of putting it all on credit cards made us literally sick with worry.  So after much discussion and prayer we knew it was time for me to re-enter the workforce.  I searched high and low for part time marketing work and in this economy it was non-existent.  I didn't need or want full time employment so in a fit of desperation I did what most people looking for temporary, flexible hour employment do - I applied to be waitress at two local restaurants.  One place never called back,...

You know how when you are growing up you wonder who you might marry someday and think about what they might look like or what they were doing?  Well, on our trip to Florida I saw a picture album of Brian's that I have never seen before and had a real good laugh.  Then I came home and compared them to my own pics and had another good laugh.  You gotta love the 80's.    So, in celebration of our 13th Wedding Anniversary, I present to you some real gems.    And now...many years later: On a side note this is the year that we have officially known each other longer than we didn't.  We met when we were 18, which was just about 19 years ago!  Craaazy!  I love being in love and Brian makes is easy.  P.S.  Flat irons didn't exist until after I graduated college.  Can you imagine?

After 4 years in Kentucky we have seemed to settle into a nice 4th of July morning routine.  We once again cheered on Brian at the Bluegrass 10,000 - a 10K run downtown.  It was rainy and cool - perfect for running.  He has been training and finished in 49 minutes - beating last year's time by 5 minutes!  He also beat his division chair for the first time, giving him bragging rites for the year.   We thought he neighborhood parade would be cancelled since it was so rainy, but since there wasn't lightning we saw everyone gathering and Haley hurried to decorate her bike.  Grant decided he would just walk this year instead of facing another year of defeat in the bike decorating contest.    I bought some balloons a few days before because every winner of the last 3 years had balloons.  I'm a good mama. Here come the police horsies. Sammy Jo looked awesome!  Very patriotic! So each year these two co...

Sadly, Papa caught a cold somewhere and wasn't able to make it to the Science Center.  He would have loved it.  The kids were right in their element.  Admission even included a IMAX dome movie and a planetarium show.  We spent over 5 hours here and the kids could have lasted more I'm sure.    On a side note, us grown-ups even learned a few things!  In the planetarium show they went over different constellations but the coolest thing was learning about the north star.  Maybe you are smarter than me, but I never knew that it is the only star in the northern hemisphere sky that never moves because of its location to earth above the north pole.  All the other stars will move across the sky each night as the earth turns, but the north star stays exactly in the same place.  Very cool, and very symbolic. This explains why people have used it for navigation for centuries.  It is the only reliable star and always points north....

Brian's parents were smart in suggesting we save outdoor places like Kings Island for future trips over the winter because man it was hot!  We did enjoy a super fun day at Adventure Island water park and even talked Mimi into going down a tube slide with us.    We also spent many afternoons at the clubhouse pool in their development.  It was so pretty and the water was just perfect!  It didn't take me 30 minutes to get in the water like usual.  We loved it and the kids made friends with other grandkids visiting too.     Papa found a cool car show right on the beach.   Their favorite car of the day   We also got to visit Aunt Debra (Bubba) and see her new place.  It is right on the water.  Literally.  It was beautiful and the kids loved chasing the lizards and checking out all the cool birds. My thoughts: "Please don't fall in.  Please don't fall in."  Going out to eat ...

Mimi, Papa and Jenny took us downtown to check out the aquarium.  It was awesome!  And air conditioned!    Aunt Jenny and Papa The coolest sea horse I've ever seen.  Ever. Petting sting rays with Aunt JJ

Earlier in the year Brian's parents sold their Connecticut home and built a new home in a beautiful 65+ development outside of Tampa and they invited the kids to come down for a summer visit.  It was a great 10 day trip - the only thing missing was Brian who couldn't make it this time due to work.    A while back the kids complained that I tell them too much in advance about what we are doing and that they wanted to be surprised more.  So I decided to take them at their word and keep our Florida trip under wraps until the day before.  They were so excited when we told them that we were going to visit Mimi and Papa's and that we were flying!  Grant's last airplane trip was when he was 11 months old - so he was thrilled.   My cute travelers Waiting for take off When the plane was going down the run way Grant kept saying "It's going soooo fast!"  But then once the wheels actually lifted off the ground his jaw literally dro...