Our Family is Growing

We are officially gaining a new member in the fam! And no, I'm not writing today to tell you about a baby or a new puppy.

Even better than that...a future sister-in-law!

Yep, my older brother, the one who some (mainly his friends) thought would never get married, popped the question and is ENGAGED! His super cute, sweetest-gal-you'll-ever-meet-fiance accepted his proposal and said yes this past weekend. You can read all about the perfect night on her blog.

After their date night and the proposal, we were all waiting for them at The Flying Saucer. I couldn't believe how many people showed up to celebrate with them. There was so much love in the room!

Amy was so cute when she walked in and was surprised by everyone. The tears started flowing, and hugs were flying everywhere.

The happy couple

Love her dress

 My brother's best friend, Matt. Not sure why Matt sits like that. We aren't sure why Matt does a lot of what he does actually.

YAY!

I couldn't be happier for these two love birds. A little background about my brother...

Why are you more tan than me?

We are two years apart and had the typical love-hate brother-sister relationship growing up. As most brothers and sisters close in age, we fought, we argued, we tattled on each other, we pushed each other's buttons and tried everything in our power to get the other one in trouble.

We were quite brutal. One time, I hit him with my mother's high heel, which caused a wicked circle wound. It was bloody for days. He retaliated by somehow getting me to willingly put my finger under the sewing machine while he pressed the foot pedal. I'm gullible people, but I have no idea why I would do something like that at age 6. Luckily, it didn't hit the bone.

High school was better than childhood because he transformed into the protective big brother who would beat up any guy I dated. I thought it was annoying at the time, but looking back, I guess I sort of appreciated it. He was looking out for me. 

Next, I moved away for college, he moved to Kansas City, I followed to KC after graduation, and now we live in the same city. Those years living apart were the best damn thing that ever happened to our relationship. It made us realize how much we really do need each other and care for each other.

Don't get me wrong, we still have huge blow out fights at times, but we have learned to appreciate one another for who we are. While, we are two of the most stubborn people you'll ever meet, we're very different people. I can honestly say that all those fights and experiences have helped shape me as a person. I have learned from him, and I hope he has learned from me.

Sorry for all this sap, but my bubba is getting married!

He has been through a lot when it comes to relationships and I couldn't be happier that he found Amy. Got only knows that the Biddles are hard to handle, and if she can put up with him, she is a definite keeper! :)

Congrats to my bubba and the future Mrs. Biddle!

Blood, Sweat & Tears

I'm still alive! Are you beginning to wonder where the heck my blogging abilities have gone lately? I've been wondering too, but I promise I have good reasons.

This past weekend, I spent my time entertaining five high school boys. It was actually the other way around (they were hysterical), but I had to play host.

My two nephews + three of their wrestling buddies + my chaperon brother = crazy weekend at the Kutter household.

Smelliness and testosterone galore!

Here for a wrestling tournament, they arrived Friday and didn't have much time for play. However, we did manage to go to dinner Friday night after their weigh in.

My brother Ryan, Amy, me and Brian got there first so we waited at the table for them to arrive. It was quite humorous as they all strolled up to our table...as the three we don't know blushingly smiled at me and Amy like we were cute college girls.

The one I called "Little Man" all weekend (he was the shortest) was a freshman in high school and the cutest little froshy you've ever seen. The bill of his hat was flat as a board, long hair of course sticking out from underneath, and he did the whole head nod up thing and winked at me. Let me tell you, he got game.

For a second, just a second, I felt like a hot college gal.:) I was flattered.

So, five high school boys and my half brother come to stay with us. Plus we have Me, the Mr, and Jakey doo. How the heck do you sleep that many people in a three-bedroom house and only one guest bed?

Sectional Couch to the rescue! Oh and Matt and Heather's air bed that we always borrow. I promise we will purchase one of our own one of these days. Our couch was utilized in full force and I couldn't have been happier about our purchase than that very moment.

Three boys sprawled out on the couch, one on the air mattress, one on the upstairs couch, and my brother took the guest bed. Perfecto! No need to spend money on hotel rooms when you have Casa de Kutter.

Saturday, we spent all day at the wrestling tournament. My nephews didn't do as great as they would have liked (5th and 6th place), but they can't win all the time. Sorry to brag on them, but they are little bad asses. They have been wrestling since they were little tikes and it's not uncommon for them to easily sweep these tournaments.

Little Man and the other boys all took second. Too bad none of them could pull off the 1st place spot. But for all the blood, sweat and tears they went through (literally, there's lots of blood in wrestling), they did fantastic!

 Lots of wrestling matches, all at once.

 It was hard to watch every boy wrestle. It was like playing musical chairs to get the best view.

So after the tournament, the boys wanted to do one thing: Eat. When you're constantly having to cut weight like they do all the time, they are always ready for some grub.

So they requested none other than Hooters. Pwf, typical high school boys. You should have seen their eyes. And heard all their comments about boobies. It was hysterical.

Here's the boys with our waitress. LOL.

Saturday night we enjoyed root beer floats, watching video recaps of their matches, and lots of talk about balls, boobs and singlets*.

I swear our basement smelled like athletic, maturing boys for days to follow. Brian even had to plug in a Glade Plug-In he thought it was so bad:). Gotta love boys!

What a great visit from the fam we had!

*Singlets are an interesting choice of uniform. Not that they get a choice, but they are just funny looking.

It's Friday, Friday

...gotta get down on Friday!

Who's heard this joke of a song? C'mon, it's only the best song ever created. Did you know that  yesterday was Thursday, Today is Friday, tomorrow is Saturday and Sunday comes afterward?

I know those of you who have heard of it secretly sing it too. It's pretty horrible singing, but I will say that it has a catchy tune. Fun, fun, fun, fun. Ha!

Impressively, it has nearly 90 Million views on You Tube. Who knew horrible singing with equally horrible lyrics could get you that!?

Ok, now let's talk about my crazy week. Work got crazy. The second I think I will have a slow week...BAM! I get hit with a semi-truck. Not to mention I was out of the office for two whole days for a conference. You would think that sitting through seminars and break-out sessions would be a nice change of pace from work, but nope, all I could think about was how much work is piling up at the office.

Looks like next week will be loads of fun. And the entire months of May, June and July. Why you ask? Oh, only because my department of TWO (yep, only two of us coordinators in the good ole marketing department) will be diminished to ONE. That one being me, flying solo for three whole months. Why? Because my counterpart is going on maternity leave. 

Can you tell I'm super excited about taking on the workload of two people? Honestly, I can't complain. Comes with the territory. They did let me hire an intern which I'm super excited about.

She's a K-Stater (we only hire the best and the brightest) and the sweetest girl you'll ever meet! She seems a little more reserved than me, but I'm hoping I don't scare her too much....I really hope she likes tolerates me.

And doesn't mind the occasional F-bomb. What can I say? It just tends to come out sometimes.

So, this weekend I will be surrounded by seven boys. Eight if you count Jake. My half brother, two nephews and three other high school boys will be staying at our house.

Not sure if I'm ready for this, but it will be an experience:) They are coming for a national wrestling tournament. I come from a family of wrestlers and it's pretty much a sin if you're a boy and don't wrestle in our family.

We will be spending all day in a humid convention center transformed into a gym that will reek of smelly teenage boys.  But, I'm excited to see my nephews kick butt.

How are you getting down on this Friday?

The Beer Kitchen

This ol' blog sure is collecting some hefty dust lately. And I'm beyond behind on keeping up with all of your lovely blogs.

Life just gets in the way. That's just life.

I'll eventually emerge from this state I'm in and bounce back to the blog world.

Until then, I'll quickly tell you about my fabulous weekend dinner with the girls at The Beer Kitchen - a new, casual, fun spot in Westport (where 180 used to be).

My brother recommended this place and we could not have been more pleased. The one and only, Katie, was in town to shop for her wedding dress, so it was only appropriate we took her to a place she has never been. It was a new spot for all of us.

I was craving comfort food so I ordered none other than the Mac N Cheese. It was rich. It was creamy. It was delish.

Why do I always order Mac N Cheese at restaurants? What am I, 10?

The other items ordered at our table were a burger, the turkey turkey sandwich (yes, it's called The Turkey Turkey), and a salad for the girl who had to be all healthy and crap. Oh, and a jumbo order of french fries for all of us to share.

 Aren't those pickles freakishly green?

 

Thanks Smack, Katie and I will sit here with our Mac N Cheese while you eat your rabbit food.

We had a blast. Our early dinner turned into 4 hours of catching up, reminiscing about old times, and chatting about the exciting things to come such as Katie's marriage to Barry! We couldn't be happier for this girl who has been through a lot with this boy. She just couldn't seem to get away from him. They're soul mates:)

 Bethany & Katie

 The group

Me, Lang and Smack

Now go try The Beer Kitchen! You won't regret it.