"" (the Harry Potter theme song) ""

doing: Harry Potter marathon on ABC Family!! woot woot!
feeling: okay. tired and a little stressed though.

today is the 5th day of Decemeber. i feel like last December was ages ago, but that i've just missed the entire months of August-November.

its an understatement to say that we've been busy at work. we've been maddeningly busy. Jeff and i have almost killed each other a couple times... but we are making it through. we are both excited for the actual "slow time".

as for my other job - youth ministry coordinator at the church. this second year of me being YMC is going much smoother. i think that those first year kinks are loosening. my team and i are communicating better and we are all just happy that we've made it this far! my adult team has been nothing short of amazing. they are always ready to lend a hand or let me bounce an idea off of them. and mostly they are great with the kids. the kids also have been amazing. they all have been and continue to be very supportive of me and the roll i've taken in the church. while there is still some stress, as goes with every job, i feel like there is about 70% less than there was at this time last year!

all that said, i feel like this year has sucked - to put it nicely. i'm ready to say goodbye to 2010. however much we try to make it differently, the bad things always seem to overshadow the good ones. and 2010 has left me with a bretty bad taste in my mouth.
i'm actually welcoming December this year. usually i dread it, only because of the weather. but this year the month seems to be filled with places and activities that i am looking quite forward to!

one of those activities is Ethans very first Christmas Program! we have been so impressed with him starting pre-school this year. he loves school! and i love it when he loves something this much! he has been practicing at school the songs they will be singing, and so has been singing them at home as well! i'm also always impressed with him with the things he remembers! and he remembers all his songs!

the other thing i always am happy about this time of year is my family. not only Matt and Ethan, but my extended family too. i'm lucky enough to have amazing extended family on both sides (yes i love my in-laws!), and to add one more level my friends are just as great! with all of that, i consider myself one of the luckiest girls around!

"" don't wake me, i plan on sleeping... ""

haha! i'd saved this post but it was only the title....

doing: just got home from Harry Potter 7 - Part 1!
feeling: tired, but very very glad that its the weekend!
listening to: the even breathing of my (finally) sleeping son.

i haven't written for a while for a number of reasons. none of them decent, but still every time i sat down to write i just blabbed. so it really wasn't worth wasting your time as the reader!

i finally have a few things to write about now so here it goes.

first up, my son. my wonderful, beautiful, headstrong, opinionated son. he is still loving school. he would much rather be there than anywhere. still his number one question almost every morning is, "Mommy, where am i going today?"
he has also started to develop a little mouth on him. he seems to think that telling Matt and i what to do - in a very firm voice - is his ticket to everything. however that is not the case. throwing fits hasn't been working out for him either. i'm sure i've said this over the course of the last 4 years but, i think the terrible 4's are worse than 3's or 2's. he finally understands what he's saying... and i think that makes things worse!
however, on the other hand. now when we ask him to do things he understands what and why. thats helped in some areas. sometimes he gets in the mindset that his room NEEDS to be cleaned... and he just goes. naturally this only ever happens right before a nap or bedtime. but what can you do when he's finally cleaning his disaster of a room! he usually gets a late bedtime on those nights!

...... okay seriously - its now Thanksgiving day, i'm awful at this.

to backtrack, Harry Potter was awesome!! if you are a fan you have been waiting for this movie! i was expecting alot, but then again i've read the book and know that its just a little slow in the middle. so i wasn't sure how they would do that in the movie. but all in all they did a wonderful job(as they always do!) i'm lucky because Matt has only ever read the 3rd book, but he continues to see the movies with me and continues to understand just what's going on! so that tells me that the movie makers are doing a smashing job! of course, my mom and i laid information on him for about a half hour after the movie was over. just to fill in the gaps.... which he did not appreciate. but still listened politely!



so, i loved the movie! i'm ready to go see it again! and i'm also ready for July, when the second part comes out!! i'm so jazzed about it!! however, i think the whole Harry Potter world will have a little heartbreak after the final movie comes out. what will we do then? when all the books are done and all the movies too!?!? it'll be a sad day for us. but also a great day, because i know the final movie is going to be epic (yes i used epic!) i think i already put on my work calendar that i have to have most of that day and the next off in July. i'm doing midnight show, sitting outside, everything! i have to!



and now for real time.
today was Thanksgiving. Matt and i have always said the best Thanksgiving season we've ever had was maybe the second year we were married. we had, no joke, at least 6 different Thanksgiving dinners that year! and no mashed potatos at any of them!!
this year his parents left for Arizona, so we had Thanksgiving at their house in October. last weekend we went to Panam for the Croghan side. today we were in Grinnell for the Bowden(my mom's) side. and tomorrow is our own little families dinner together! to add to that we've gotten to go to our church's Fall Dinner AND Ethan's pre-school's church's dinner!! its been a great great great November!!

but however much i do love Thanksgiving food, that's not really what the whole season is about! i was thinking, truly thinking, about what i'm thankful for. its easy enough to say family, friends, job, ect, ect. but when you really think about it what ARE you thankful for?! i know i do a bit of complaining about my life situation in general. the fact that we've been trying to sell our house for 2 years, that we both need new cars(if not now, in a years time we will), that i just want to go shoe shopping already and not wait for my next paycheck!! and many other things. BUT, i'm truly thankful for all the things i have. the house, even though its too small-its a house. it keeps us warm and safe. our cars, even though they need work or just to be retired, they get us from A-B every week without fail. they just keep hanging on for us! and well the shoes,.... i'm still going to complain about that-cause what girls doesn't want to go shoe shopping all the time!?!?

i know that God has blessed me and my family in all the small ways that we need. we haven't won the lottery yet,... but maybe someday! but we have enough to get by. Ethan is happy, we all have clothes to wear, a bed to sleep in, and food to eat. we love each other and we know how to get by when and if things get tough. of course we want more, and new things, but when we are ready for those things He will give them to us. until then i am happy about where my life road is taking me. i can see tomorrow and tomorrow never with holds its suprises for me!



finally, i wanted to let you in on the family i hold in my heart.

my Grandpa Max - i can hear his laugh. he was always laughing at something! today when we said grace before dinner it felt a little odd, because he was always the one who said grace for us. but my Dad did it, and did great! :)

my Grandpa Pete - broken legs(checked with tickling), magic eggs and him sitting in the same chair drinking coffee every morning at the farm. i remember little things he taught me about farm equipment and farms in general.

my cousin Justin - he was only 5 when he died, but today i learned something about that whole thing that made my heart feel at ease. not needing to tell any details, but what i thought wasn't true, and it makes me feel better about it. i can remember him with his skinny little body and big fat smile! his sweet blonde hair and running through the yard with all of us cousins!

my aunts Midge and Honnie - tomorrow i will go downstairs and dig out their handmade Christmas ornaments. we hang them on our tree every year, and my mom gave them to me possibly because i asked for them. i can't imagine our Christmas tree without those ornaments hangining on it!

i'm thankful for my family that is here now and the ones that are in heaven. for what they taught me and the love i know they gave to me. a little bit of them helped me to be the person i am today!

"" i am 16 going on 17...."

doing: this.
listening to: Thriving Ivory radio on jango! they are my new fave!
feeling: run down, tired, grouchy, mad, sad, tired and run down a couple more times.

its been a long one. this might be the first time in a long time that i'm looking forward to winter. winter to photographers is the "off season" for obvious reasons in Iowa. snow isn't usually Senior's #1 choice for their pictures!
right now i feel like i've been going and going for months and months. sure i've taken a day or two off, but its never been truly OFF. i've always had to do something for the studio or for church. not that i mind.. but i want a break. a real break. with no emails and no meetings and no deadlines... NOTHING!

other than my bitching.... there is a birthday coming up soon! Little Baby Ethan is turning 4!! (yes i know i shouldn't call him a baby anymore... but he's still my little baby!!)
last night we went and took his 4 year old pictures. it got dark too quick(not used to fall sunsets yet). but we did get some good ones!

i'm so proud of him, as all parents should be. he started pre-school in September and he just loves it! he never says he doesn't want to go, he would actually prefer to go every day if he could! he is always excited to go and always excited to show us what he brought home that day! i do hope that this thrill lasts for quite awhile!

of course we both have the same attitude and temper and sometimes i think we'd both like to throw the other in a hole. naturally Matt just laughs at me and tells me to stop acting like our 4 year old son!

after the summer that we've had, Matt and i, it has made us appreciate Ethan so much more. and being able to watch him grow every day with school and with playing is just such a joy!


to my little man! i hope he has a very happy birthday(on the 20th!) and gets everything his little heart desires!!

"" just like a tattoo, i'll always have you ""

doing: getting caught up on my shows. right now, The Gates.
feeling: sore but really good!


as you all know i've been pining over my tattoo for months now. and last night was THE night! i was nervous and scared and excited.

Ben came with, he got his first tattoo on his wrist. his name in binary code - which is a combination of 1's and 0's. and while it sounds a little on the nerdy side, if you know Ben you know that it fits him just right! it looks really cool and i think he's really happy with it!

then it was my turn! it took about 3 hours to do what i have done. we didn't leave the tattoo shop until about 10:30. the only reason i didn't want to finish was because i was getting antsy..... and, well, it hurt! now i didn't go into this thinking a rib tattoo wouldn't hurt.. but i don't think i was quite prepared. it hurts. just let me tell you, unless you are really truly set on a rib tattoo then don't do it!! haha! i'm 100% set on mine, otherwise i'd have made him quit after the outline was done!!

either way, i loved it even when he only had the outline done! i'm just in love with this tattoo! it makes it even better that i designed it myself and that it truly means something to me personally! so the coloring and the bottom part of the cross is all done, in about 3 weeks i'll go back and get the rest finished.

"" i didn't know i'd get caught in the middle ""

doing: last minutes of my lunch break and i realized i didn't blog yet.
listening to: Motion City Soundtrack on my Jango - but soon it will be the newest episode of Glee!
feeling: good!

yesterday was our appointment with the specialist. we didn't know what to expect really. the couple that went in before us - honestly looked like they were in high school - but they were only in for maybe 5 minutes. so then we started to think maybe this was just going to be a waste of time...

the doctor was very nice. he had our medical history that he'd looked over before hand, so he didn't have to ask too many questions. he started with telling us what he knew of miscarriages and the reasons for them; misshapen uterus, blood clotting, chromosome abnormality from either the mother or father, and a couple others. after that he told us that by us having a full term and healthy baby already pretty much makes any of those null. and also since our first miscarriage was at 17 weeks and the other 2 were around 8 some things might seem a possibility and some just don't.

if you aren't confused already.... so he said he was going to suggest to our doctor that we do a chromosome test and that i do a blood clotting test. both are simple blood tests so no big deal. he was pretty sure that the blood clot test on me would come back negative - again from having a full term baby already. but if it didn't for some reason, that was a reason for first trimester miscarriages and CAN be treated. as for the chromosome test, if either of us have an abnormality there its not treatable, but the plus side would be that we would know whats causing miscarriages.

he also was going to suggest to our doctor that next time i get pregnant i should take a progesterone pill and a baby aspirin. he said this is what he recommends for his patients and there isn't real proof that it helps 100%, but it doesn't hurt.


so the visit wasn't as much information that we would have liked to get, but it was something and we feel like we can move forward again. he suggested we don't try again for at least 4 months - which we weren't going to anyways. we want to get ourselves back, mind and body, before we start this process again. we want to eat better and work out more and get ourselves a little healthier.

since having another baby is very important to us we want to be sure to do everything we can to make sure the baby starts off on the right foot - from the very first second!


for now though we are taking a break, being young again for a little while. having a couple nights out with friends, and smothering Ethan with more attention than he probably wants!

we are a happy family and we know and count our blessings every day. we know what a gift Ethan is, if not when he was first born than now more than ever. and if God finds it better for us to raise him and our family to just be 3 then we will find a way to open our hearts to that and continue to be the best possible parents to Ethan that we can!

thanks for listening everyone. have a good one!

"" i'm coming to terms, i'm starting to learn... ""

this year has been a long one. we've had our share of ups and downs, but this year seems to be topping them all off.
of course you all know that we miscarried in mid April. this was a heartache for us because we had been trying for quite awhile to get pregnant. but it had happened once before and we knew that last time it all worked out.

in August i found out i was pregnant again. right before our anniversary actually. so our anniversary was a double celebration! i went to the doctor around 5 weeks, scheduled an ultrasound for 8 weeks and we were in business! we were keeping the secret until after our ultrasound. i felt good! i didn't have much morning sickness, just a little nausea now and again.

around Sept 4 i started to get a head cold. i was stuffed up, sinus pressure, the works. it was miserable. since i couldn't take anything i was just doing the best i could. on that next Tuesday i started to spot just a little. i had done that with Ethan, so i wasn't terribly worried. but i called the doctor just in case and he said we'd just wait and see-and if it got worse to call him. Wednesday i just felt awful. i was at work until about 2 and then i went home. i had started to bleed for real, but it wasn't much. i was just miserable with this cold so i went home and slept. that night i had started to bleed more. since i wasn't cramping or anything Matt said just sleep it off and we'll call in the morning. naturally i couldn't sleep at all. so i watched Friends(my comfort show) and fell asleep on the couch. at about 6am i got up to go to the bathroom and found that i had fully miscarried.

i took the day off and scheduled a doctors appointment. Matt came with me, but we didn't get many answers. miscarriage is an iffy thing. unless there is an obvious reason for it there is really no reason for it. our doctor and all the nurses were really nice and very concerned for us. it actually made me realize how much they really do care for their patients. Dr. Fredrickson set us up to see a specialist on the 22nd of this month. he said that hopefully they could look over our history and either request some further testing or give us some sort of information that will help us.

since we've gone through this now twice in 6 months we decided that we are going to take a break. no trying again for a few months, probably until next year. i want time to regroup, to do some partially crazy adult things, and to spend time with Ethan. and to smother him with hugs and kisses!

of course if i had the money i'd just hop a plane and spend a week in the Caribbean. gosh that sounds relaxing!


to end this basically depressing blog. it helps me to write things out. and some people that read this knew what was going on, and some didn't. please don't feel bad that we didn't share our news with you right away. and if you did know before, i'm sorry you had to hear about it ending this way.

to all of our friends and family that have stuck by us, listened to us gripe and complain, cry and feel sorry for ourselves. we thank you. from the bottom of our hearts. its hard to see your friends in pain and even harder to find the right things to say, but you've all done a great job! ;)


on Thursday i'm going to get my second tattoo - to which i'm very excited about! - i created this myself and it truly means something real to me. an expression of myself and of the things i hold dearest to my heart. and not just something i can show, its something i will be able to carry with me always.




a blue flower for my baby boy who brings me more joy than ever! and the yellows are for the babies we've had to say goodbye to even before we got a chance to truly love them. and someday i'll be able to add another pink or blue flower.

"" save me i'm lost... oh Lord i've been waiting for you""

good morning!

of all the days of the week, Ethan chooses this one to sleep in! hes out! but thats okay, he needs about a days worth of sleep to catch himself up! hes been grouchy for days and its tiring!

today is Saturday! its 74degrees in my house and i have NOTHING to do today! (until later, we have a short wedding here in Knoxville). i made myself a list of errands i will need to run and i should probably do laundry. but other that that the day is wide open! it makes me so happy!

this week was crazy busy. i was tired. and we are behind at work. not bad, but just enough to make us both a little crazy. our Senior appointments are slowing down now because school has started. thats good because it lets Jeff actually be in the office to do some stuff. i got totally caught up on my editing on Thursday and then the rest of Thursday and Friday i worked like mad to get a better handle on my orders. i sent a huge order to the lab yesterday and i actually feel pretty good about where i'm at now. i brought a bunch home to retouch this weekend so that'll help too.

about this time of year we are praying just a tiny bit for that slow time in January! but.... we dont like snow... so it only lasts for a tiny bit!

i've been trying to think of family picture ideas for this year. we usually do a family picture around Ethan's birthday(October) just because it seems easier. i want to do a Hawkeyes picture this year! i actually wanted to do it out by the corn - how Iowa is that?! but its starting to look like we wont be able to get our act together until the corn is starting to be harvested. we'll see i guess.

this coming Tuesday is our first taste of Preschool. Ethan's class - Thrilling Three's - is meeting Tuesday night for a "meet the teacher/class" night. Ethan's so very excited to go to school! the biggest thing i'm worried about with him is his listening and sharing. he shares fairly well with other kids.... unless hes tired or basically just doesn't want to. and his listening skills are to be desired, as i'm sure is true with all 3 year olds. i think he listens better to other adults than he does to me though... so we might be okay.
anyways,. we got him a backpack last week and today we will go and get him some new tennis shoes! i'm needing to purge his closet again and then hit up Plush Pony or find some good Children's Place sales to get him some new clothes. i've just hung on to most of his t-shirts because its summer and he just gets them dirty and sweaty. no need to have perfectly fitting ones for that!

other than that we are pretty low key here. matt took on yet another roofing job. hes not too thrilled about it, but Adam asked him to and that's what friends do! he was up at... well after his alarm - at 6:40 this morning. they are just down the street from here so at least we can go over and check up on them today. maybe i'll be nice and make them lemonade or something! :) as for our house, Matt said our roofing guy called him and we were supposed to get supplies delivered sometime soon. so that means our house is on the "soon" list now! we're really hoping by the midding of September its all done. not that i'm in a huge hurry, because we aren't paying for it, but itd just be nice to get it all done so we can do the Open House thing again.

its almost 8 now and my kid is still passed out. i suppose laundry is next on my list! have a good one!

"" its amazing how you can speak right to my heart ""

doing: this, and up too early
feeling: really good!
listening to: Matt Maher radio on Jango. listening for some new Christian Rock bands to introduce to my high schoolers this year!


today is my ANNIVERSARY!!! today Matthew and i have been married for 7 years! SEVEN! oh my goodness i feel so old! 7 doesnt seem like that long, especially since i can still remember our wedding day very well! but we were together for 6 years before that, that makes us an old old married couple! haha!

we've been through so much in the last 7 years and as i look back on it sometimes it just didnt seem like we'd make it through. there were times when we both were trying to decide how we'd support ourselves when we were alone. but we powered through and here we are. another year down and we are happier than ever! i told him a long time ago that i knew he was the one i wanted to raise our children with and hes the one i wanted to be sitting with when we were old and gray. he still is! even when i'm mad at him or he's griping at me for something, at the end of the day he's the one i want!

i consider myself very lucky to have found the guy i want forever when i was so young. we started dating when we were Sophmores in HS. we were just kids. i hardly i knew him, except through mutual friends. but we started dating and found out we actually had a few things in common. we always joke that we have NOTHING in common-and thats actually closer to the truth. we hardly like any of the same things. and i honestly dont know how we even started a conversation! but God knew we were meant for each other and He helped us out a little i think.

we dated through the rest of high school. he gave me a promise ring a little more than a year after we started dating. he promised not to marry me, but to always love me no matter what.
he joined the Navy after high school. i was supportive even though i didnt want to be..... he was in Chicago for boot camp. he always looked super hot in his whites. (salior uniform). he went to Gulfport, Mississippi for A-School. i got to go visit him a couple times there. then he went to Spaine for more training....and drinking! and then it was 9/11. i think i was in a daze for a week becuase of everything and then i cried for 3 days because he told me he'd have to go overseas. this was in 2002 and he promised me he would be back and we'd get married. we set a wedding date, August 22, 2003. i'm sure i told him he had to be back or i was marrying someone else on that day! he was overseas for the longest 3 months of my life. i think God was truly looking over us because Matt somehow caught a break and got an early flight home, he was one of the only ones who got to. he was home finally! that was early in the year. i told him he was out. he had to get out because i couldn't do that stupid military thing anymore! (to you military wives i give you a huge thumbs up! i was lucky becuase Matt wasn't in too long, but i couldn't have handled it any longer!)

we were married on Friday, August 22, 2003. the entire week before that was stupid hot and humid. the schools were closed because it was so hot. and then Friday came and the weather was PERFECT! i'm talking low 80's, a nice breeze and sunny! it was the first day school was back in session and my brothers didn't have to go!

me and my girls were up early at the salon getting beautiful! then we went to Treasured Portraits for my family pictures and pictures with my girls. Matt and his guys-well, to this day i still dont ask too much of what they did before pictures, because i've heard different stories and not many of them are great! haha!
we finally saw each other at the church after almost 2 hours of being ready. i was pacing i was so nervous. but after we saw each other it all melted away.
our ceremony was short and sweet, just how we wanted it. all our friends and family were there with us and it was wonderful! we walked out to people blowing bubbles and those are some of my favorite pictures of the day!
then we took a few more pictures then headed off to the reception! we danced, ate, danced some more, talked with everyone and just had a great time! our first dance song was Alison Krauss, "When You Say Nothing At All"





i have no idea if something went wrong, or if something wasnt there. to me everything turned out perfectly! looking back there are just a couple things i would have changed, but nothing major and nothing i regret. well, okay, one thing. i really really wanted candles in the front of the church, like tons and tons of candles! i got talked out of it because it was August and hot. now i know i could have gotten the battery powered ones.. and that'd been sweet!!

when i look back it couldn't have gone better. i was happy, i married the man i loved and we are now into living happily ever after!



to celebrate last night we went to eat at Centro and it was AMAZING! i seriously haven't had that good of a meal for ages! and to end it with a perfect homemade cheesecake was to die for! we could have both just laid down in our booth and slept happily the rest of the night! we then we to Lowe's. my present to Matt was to go tool shopping with him. hes like a kid in a toy store. he got a bunch of new stuff that he SAID he needed.......i'm not so sure! :) then we went over to see Ben and his new apartment. we hung out with him and his friends for a little while. i know it doesn't sound like a great anniversary celebration, but we had a good time!

doing: messing around on the computer for the morning.
feeling: SO very tired! my sleep needs to catch back up with me SOON!
listening to: Mikes computer game... the guy on there has a little bit of a creepy voice.

the week has been a little crazy. i dont feel like i've slowed down for a few days now! i feel like theres so much to fit into these first few weeks of August that we can't stop or we'll miss it all!

first stop, the Nationals! i love the Nationals, i'm a wierd one. i love all the people, the stands, the races, the randomness that the town gets into! and i LOVE Sunday morning about 10:00 when there isn't even a whisper of anyone even left in town! haha! i told Matt i wish we had a tall house so we could sit up there and just watch all the campers scatter.

we, again, had our awesome campers in the backyard! we love them! they are so fun and so easy to get along with! i've known Justin since high school and i'm so happy every year when him and his family(inculding his super sweet wife) come and stay with us in August! on my list of "reasons to NOT move" they are one of them! i'd be so sad if we moved far away from the track and they couldn't camp with us anymore!

also, as you know, Mike is home. since we can't really "show him around" knoxville-since he's from here-we've just been cooking him food and letting him sleep in late! it's really been fun and so easy to have him here. he is part of the family and he just flows right into our routine. we'll all be sad to see him go, he's leaving wednesday. but its been great to have him here. because he got to be back for the Nationals this year, i'm pretty positive he's consumed more alchohol these last 2 weeks than he has for pry the last year. ........what are friends for?!
on my list of "reasons TO move" having a guest room for Mike so he doesn't have to sleep on the couch is one of the tops!

work has been long. August has been killing us. but we're making it, and people have been happy with their stuff, so that makes us happy! as soon as school starts our schedule will clear up in a snap! that will make us happy becuase we'll be able to get caught up on orders and things and still have time for that stuff we've been having to put off. this time of the year makes us thankful, because if we were slow at this time we'd be in serious trouble!

at home things have been good. Ethan's just starting to come out of his " i don't need food " phase. however, the 24 hour rottenness hasn't subsided yet. he was so awful yesterday i thought i might explode! and of course this morning he's been sweet as sugar-just so he could go to the fair with G&G Russell! rotten.

of all the things we are fitting into our August the State Fair is one of them. we went yesterday simply because it was NICE outside! i figured we'd better take it while we can because the rest of the week might be 100+ temps again. so we went, we ate, we walked around, we did the fair.

i haven't been too excited about things lately. there was a Hanson concert earlier this month, Aerosmith will be in Omaha this weekend - and neither one i really "cared" to see. sure i wanted to go,... but i just didn't care to push the subject too much on Matt. it sort of makes me sad. and the fair was one too. i wanted to go because i always want to go. but i wansn't planning out my food intake like i usually do. and the one thing i really wanted i let go of pretty quick because there was a long line. i got my lemonade and mini donuts though so i came home happy!

well, i think i should do soemthing with my day off. and Matt will be home in an hour for lunch.... so i need to figure that out too.

i'm just so lazy though!! haha!


Matt and Ethan at the Nationals parade on Saturday


Me and Matt


Ethan and I working on floating!

"" i've got friends in LLOOWW places ""

this week has been long in every sense of the word. we are up to our eyeballs at work... "just keep swimming, just keep swimming" seems to be playing over and over in my head! i wish we could just shut off the phones and close the doors and WORK for a whole day straight. unfortunately we can't, so i'm dealing.

to start out my every morning this week i've had a super grouchy and uncooperative son. he's been staying up late at night on his own accord, and not actually falling asleep until 10 or 10:30. nothing i say or do makes him just lay down and sleep. so then morning comes around and he just dicks around and can't do one simple thing that i ask of him. of course once we get to Grandma Russell's or Shirley's house he's all lovey on me.... so usually my annoyance melts.
i also found out today that he hasn't taken much of a nap at Shirley's the last 2 days OR eaten much of anything for lunch! so basically my kid seems to think he can go without sleep and food.... *sigh*

i hope this phase fades FAST!




on a totally different note, our friend Mike is back home for awhile! he's been overseas for the last year so its always great when he comes home!! we've all been looking forward to it for months and now that he's here he just falls into our normal routine. we usually plan a party or outing while hes here, but this time i think we'll be a little more low key.

it really hit me this time when he gave me a big hug, picked me up, put me down and said, "have you gained weight Tray?" to which i punched him.

since this sounds a little meaner that it was, let me explain. when i started dating Matt i got him and 3 new friends. these friends were all boys and all treated my like a little sister. and even when i wished they'd just go away, i always knew they'd be in my life for the long haul!
now that i'm still very close with all of them, and have even added some more to that group, i'm happy that i have such good friends to rely on.

backtrack: i realized how lucky i am to have such an amazing group of friends. ones that i know will be there for me, Matt and Ethan no matter what we need. and are happy enough to just sit and drink a beer, or have dinner together, or play bags in the driveway until its too dark to see. and on top of it all i know that they are all supportive and happy for us and how our lives are at this moment!


"" True Friends are the ones that are there for you and know when you need them, even in their sleep, they will wake up and be there for you no matter what... ""


so to all of our friends that live close, live far away, and that we only see once in a great while... THANK YOU for being you!

"" show me what its like, to dream in black and white...""

doing: in between laundry loads
feeling: a little tired but doing okay

this morning i got up and went to swim. out of all the exercising i can do, the only thing that makes me feel like i'm actually getting anything out of it is swimming. so i found out a way and got a pass to the rec. now i just need to make myself get in the habit of it! i'm planning to go 3 times a week. hopefully someday i can go every day though! that would be great!

i love swimming because everything is tuned out. although i do wish i could get some music going, its nice to just tune completely out! i'm only left with my thoughts, and when i'm in the water i have an easier time shutting those down too. you don't hear anyone around you so its less distracting.

i love that first 50-75 yards (for me right now thats about as far as i can get!), when it just feels like you are flying through the water. nothings choppy, my muscles arent tired yet, and i feel like i could go forever! of course i cant... i get to 100 yards and my muscles are on fire! oohh how i wish i was still in shape like i was in high school! where's Post and his crazy workouts when i need him!?


so, we're still trying to sell our house. and we've now buried a statue of St. Joseph in our front yard, facing our house, under our "for sale" sign. i've gotten numerous snickers from people when i told them i was going to do this. mostly it was followed by the comment, "isn't that superstition?" to which i reply, "no, its faith!" we've been trying to sell for 2 years so any little bit will help! and i'm sure St. Joseph is thrilled about being buried in peoples yards upsidedown... so he MIGHT just take an extra look at our house now! :)

last night my Mom came over and helped me weed my flowers in the front yard. yes, they get overgrown.... and yes i dont realize it until its too late, and yes i dont go out as much as i should. but we cleared them all out! it actually looks a little bare! hehe! and Matt and i talked and we have a new plan for the front. re-planting some flowers, re-doing our rock area. hopefully it will cut down on weeds and make the front look a little nicer. Mom says before she leaves, "just make a big plan to move and re-do stuff and the house will sell!"

as for the rest of the days plans. Ethan will be spending the day at the Russell's house with his cousins and i will be sorting through my last weeks worth of notes and books! i also have to sit down and make some lists of what i want to do this year, what i have to do this year, and who i need to talk to about all of this! i sorta wish it wasn't August already... i feel like i always need more time to plan these church things! of course,... i've had all summer to get the start of the year planned... but it just goes by too darn quickly!

now, another load of laundry and getting my kiddo to clean up some toys!


he gives me the best smiles when hes 1-dirty or 2-holding something odd in front of him!


hes too funny when he sleeps! i thought having my suitcase still on the bed would deter him from going in there... apparently not.

""Mommie, i like the Bible stories""

good morning world!

the title is a quote from my little man! makes me a proud Mama!

today its 8:08 when i'm finally up and moving. i dont have to make it in time for breakfast, i'm not showered, and i didn't have to deal with a power outage! its wonderful to be home!!!

yesterday was the longest day of the conference. we still got some good information and had some good discussion. but they could see that we were all burnt out! so it was a slower day with not too much going on. the conference ended at 3:00 and sadly, i had to get in my taxi by 3:15. so i had to say quick goodbyes and rush out. that was sort of okay because i started to get teary! i made some good friends, i know i keep saying that, but i really did! we all just connected on both a spititual level and a "were all going through the same thing" level.

its funny because the 2 girls i spent the most time with were from Mississippi so now my inner monolog has a sounther accent! i also spent time talking with Father Dan who came over from England. so that british accent keeps coming up too! Father Dan is a hoot too! hes so quick and witty, we laughed at him SO much!

after saying my goodbyes i hopped in the taxi. luckily i had another lady, Virginia, that had a flight shortly after mine. so we rode together. the 12 mile trip to the airport takes about 45 minutes..... and thats one big fat reason i dont want to live in a big city anymore! once i got there getting through security was quick and easy and i just had about 20 minutes to wait to get onto my flight. the flight home was cool because we flew most of the way up above the clouds! they just surrounded us and it was so awesome! i had turned my phone totally off, otherwise i'd have a sweet picture to show you. :(

i got back into Des Monies about 7:00. Matt and Ethan were there to greet me! after stopping off to grab me some dinner we headed back to home sweet home! it was so nice to sleep in my own bed! however, i don't miss having to share a bed with someone!!

Matt got up early to go help Bri Guy's mom roof her garage. they didnt do much of anything yesterday because of the "chance of rain". which sucked because yesterday would have been a perfect day for it! hopefully they'll get a good chunk done today!

other good news is that we have 2 showings of our house within a week! i got a call that someone wanted to come and look at it Friday morning, and then another that someone will come Monday afternoon! yeay!! Lexie(one of the southern girls) told me that if you bury, upsidedown, a statue of St. Joseph in your backyard its supposed to help you sell your house..... ssooo i need to find myself a St. Joseph statue!

Ethan and i are going to take a walk to see how the roofing is going!
have a great Saturday!

""when i wake in the morning, give me Jesus""

good morning all!

today i was pleasantly surprised when my clock read 6:35, instead of 5:53. one reason might be is that i was up until 11:30 last night and had a beer and a glass of wine. either way, i slept "in" sorta. and it was good!

obviously i'm blogging this morning because i crashed hard last night! my day yesterday was just as good as the others! we are all hitting the overwhelmed point now though. we have so many notes, ideas, and things to think about that we are all about to just shut down! but one more day of information-we think we can squeeze it in!

one very nice and totally awesome thing is that we've gotten a LOT of free material! St Marys Press and Ave Maria Press are 2 leading publishers in the Christian book writing world. they have, along with our speakers, sent numerous books as gifts for us! i seriously have like 7 books and 2 DVD's that i'm bringing home! PLUS 2 free 1-year subscriptions to online materials! HOW COOL IS THAT!??!!?

one thing that IS overwhelming is looking at reading materials from these publishers and deciding what to purchase. i'm spoiled in that fact that i can basically just call up Pat and he'll tell me what he thinks is the best and what he's seen work for others. since not everyone has a Pat like me, this is nice because now we have these new materials to read over, and if they are good then we can purchase more to use for our parishes!

Eric from Out of da Box productions did a little presentation for us last night. they are a production company-duh-that has written and produced a bunch of films that are relevant to Christian learning. some of them are super funny and some are super insightful! they just came out with a new DVD and the name is CateQUIZem. its, as you guessed, a quiz on catechises! this one just happens to cover the 4 things that OUR books have been covering over the last 4 years! (Divine intervention?) so he was nice enough to give us this dvd, plus 2 others AND a free subscription to their membership that will give us access too ALL of the videos they've ever filmed! we can then download these and use them in our parish as we wish!


on our evening break, before dinner, me and Kim and Lexie(2 girls i've been hanging out with from Mississippi) took a walk around the grounds here. they have a bunch of buildings, including the church buidling, and a couple ponds, a bridge, walking path. its simply beautiful! and it was so very nice yesterday(mid 80s) that we couldnt not be outside! after our walked we met up with Dominik(i know i didnt spell that right) and chatted with him for awhile. we then kept seeing girls with lacross gear walking past us. so we wandered over there because we were all interested in lacross! Dom pretended like he knew a bunch about it, but then kept saying "sure, i'm sure thats what its called!" so we talked to a couple of the girls and one very nice mother and found out a little more! if you've never seen lacross played its amazing. we only got to see them practice a little, but that was still crazy! Lexie and i wated to ask the girls if they'd teach us how to throw with the sticks,... but they were getting ready for some championship game, so we figured we shouldnt bother them. these girls were between 6th and 9th grades! i told Dom i hoped Ethan played lacross. it should be in Iowa by the time he's ready to play right!?

well, today is Friday. i'm happy and sad all at once. i get to go HOME today which i'm SO excited about! but i'm sad to have to leave all of my new friends. i've gotten close with quite a few of them! but we are getting everyone emails, facebooks, ect, so i know we'll all be keeping in close contact! its a wonderful feeling to know that you'll hear from more than just 1 person after leaving something like this!

bad news, i have to pack up all my crap and check out before 10..... so i have to find something to do with my suitcase so i dont have to take it to class!!

one more day then i'll be Iowa bound once again!

"" come on you can, count me in! ""

title song: Count Me In by Leeland

once again, its 10:53-ARG! i didnt realize it was THAT late!
i'm such a old fogie... i need to be in bed at 9 or i'm in trouble. ah well., i'll survive!

today was again great! we do a lot of laughing here, and thats wonderful! our speakers have been awesome! they give good information, they tell heartwarming stories, and they have a wonderful way of making us crack up!

we had 3 great speakers today. Ela Milewska does our opening prayer and worship. she then talked to us about re-thinking some adolecent catechesis. she had some great ideas and information. some different approaches to things that i hadnt thought of. and she had us make lists of questions, pertaining to different categories, so that whatever we didn't touch on in these 2 days she would get to talk about on Friday. so thats great! at least we'll all get our questions answered!

we then had Mike Patin - Part 1. Mike is SO funny! he told some amazing stories that had me tearing up, and then he'd yell out something to wake us all up! he mainly talked about how to get and hold on to volunteers. because, we all need volunteers!! its just that getting them is hard. he talked about approaching them with a different .... way, i guess you'd say. picking out their personal stregnths and asking them in a new way to use those to help our youth grow in their faith.

i wish i'd brought a highlighter so every night i could have gone through my notes to highlight what i really wanted myself to remember! i'll have to just do that as soon as i get back!

our final speaker was Michael Novelli. he talked to us about Storytelling. yes, its exactly as it sounds! he has this awesome approach to scripture!! if you've ever sat down and read the Bible, its a little daunting... and sometimes really hard to understand even what you are reading. he's taken parts-stories-and reworded them in a way thats easy to understand. tonight we did an excersise and he used the Creation Story - but only up until the part where God created Eve, nothing past that. no snake, no tree, no fruit. so he had us get comfy, close our eyes or whatever we wanted to do so we could stay focued on him. he told this story - it took about 5 mintues or so maybe - and then asked us a few questions about it. we discussed this short story for 45 minutes! it was amazing to hear everyone talking about what they saw in their heads as he read this story. what we never noticed before about the story and what we felt when we heard it! everyone had different answers, but in a way they were all sort of the same.

i'm really excited about this particular excersise because i immediatley thought of an adult that would be so perfect to run sessions on these! Michael told us he ran numerous sessions using this sort of storytelling and the kids really got into it! its something about a story that makes people relate to it easier and better.

okay, its after 11. i could write much more but i really need my sleep! otherwise i'll be useless tomorrow!!
night everyone!

"" holy, holy, holy ""

doing: getting ready for BED!
feeling: great!!

after all the apprehension about this week. the not wanting to go, then the can't wait to get there, then missing my boys... i'm here and i'm glad i came!

its a smaller group that we have here, about 30 including the speakers/putter oners of the whole thing. so its been really nice to actually get to talk with everyone! i think theres only a couple people that i haven't actually talked to yet. since this is a conference for NEW youth ministers, everyone is - you guessed it - NEW! therefore, everyone is in the same boat as me. most of us are less than 3 years into the job, and all of us are still learning a LOT about it! its been awesome to make some new friends and talk to people that know what and where i'm coming from. i've met people from D.C. to Southern Cali. and everyone is eager to share their resources and their experiences with anyone who wants or needs the help.

its the end of the first day, we've only been together since 2:00 this afternoon and already we are getting along wonderfully! i know i'm going to come home with new ideas for the Youth Group and for myself. but also with some new friends, faces and email addresses!

its now 10:41, and since breakfast is at 8, and only 45 minutes long, i should go to bed....so i dont sleep through it!

good night friends!

"" your grace is enough..""

doing: relaxing in my hotel room
where: Chicago, well-a suburb of Chicago.
feeling: worn out already. and ready to get this shin-dig going!


this week..... will be different. i am currently sitting in Techny Towers (www.technytowers.org) in Techny, IL. a suburb of Chicago. i am getting ready to attend the Institute for New Youth Ministers. since i just signed on for my 2nd year of Youth Minister at our church this turned out to be the perfect convention for me to attend.

honestly at this very moment my heart isnt in it. i know that once everything gets started God will tap me on the head and i'll get into it! but after the long trip to get here i'm happily just sitting on my bed!

i am, however, looking forward to it. this last year has been a huge adjustment for my family, for me and for the church. for my family because now i'm always doing either photography stuff or church stuff. and for most of the church stuff i'm asking for Matt to help me! for me because, well, i've never done this before! theres lots of expectations that i dont feel like i'm meeting and lots of things i feel like i need and should be doing. and for the church because they havent had a true Youth Minister for quite some time now - and our High School program hasnt been that great for a number of years, until just a few short years ago.

i'm looking forward to this conference because i know it will give me some more ideas and some different approaches and perspectives to look at things. i have a great group of people helping me, but i dont always want to be relying on them. i like to bounch my ideas off of people, but again-i dont always want to be doing that. so hopefully these 4 days will gear me up for a new year and fill my brain with new ideas. i'm hoping to get some ideas on how to get more kids involved in activities as well as our Sunday night gatherings.

i'm finally starting to hear people coming into rooms now. i was afraid i was the only one here! hehe! check in has starte(at noon) and i've had 2 poptarts today to eat. i might head on over there and check out the vending machines...yeah they dont start feeding us until tonight.

i'm already missing my Ethan. Matt will make fun of me but i dont care. i haven't ever been so far away from him for so long! sure Winter Convention is a Friday-Tuesday, but its only in Des Moines. i'm in Chicago now! i'm sure he'll be an angel for Matt(he usually is... then hes a monster for me). and i'm looking forward, already, to seeing his face when they come pick me up at the airport on Friday night! (see that Matt... SEE MY SON AT THE AIRPORT!!) ;)

i'm going to go see if i can meet some people!
adios!

"" she thinks my tractors sexy...."

ugh country music!! JEFF!!! he's got a country station playing and i feel like i only hear the same 5 songs over and over!

well, i got a new hair cut last night! i'm literally 4 weeks past my "normal time" to get it cut! so my hairs been going crazy and i LLOOVVEE it! she didn't do much to it, usually she does tons of layers and choppy. but i wanted it a little longer and a little less layers. and curls! i know i know, "you don't want curly hair" but i DO i DO! i have always wanted naturally curly hair! i know that if i did have it, i'd hate it. but i do like the curl!
anyhow, Jess did great and showed me how to curl and style my hair and i just love it! i have to go buy myself a curling iron, but i'm going to master my messy curl!



last night when i got home Matt took me out on a date! Ethan was his the Russell's at the ICubs(double header) so we had a night to ourselves! we went to..... Hardees for dinner. not very romantic but it was good! then we met Ann and Adam at the theater and went to see Inception! i wanted to see it as soon as i saw the first preview. the idea looked interesting and, lets face it, you can't go wrong with Leo DiCaprio! later i found out that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was also in it and he's one of my favorite actors!



Ben had told us that it was awesome! people had said it was mind blowing. and it did not disappoint! i have to say it was the most stressful movie i've sat through in a long time! a good stress.. .but still, i think Matt might have a bruised arm or hand because i kept hitting him!

the movie its self was brilliantly written. it blows my mind how people can come up with such a solid story based on something that's completely unnatural! the basis is that these people go into dreams to steal secrets. i can't say much because it ruins the plot. but they explain everything pretty well so you aren't totally lost.

Leo is the head honcho of the mission and i just think he's a wonderful actor. he has so many levels that anything you put him in he's brilliant at! also, hes yummy to look at! ;) JGL (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), i've loved him since 3rd Rock from the Sun, and as he gets older and older rolls in movies he seems to never miss! i'm totally smitten with him, and i'll see anything that he's made! but i love that hes a such a bad ass in this movie, complete with guns and everything!
Ellen Page is also in this and even though she hasn't had many movies, since Juno, i think shes wonderful. she brings that "younger" feel to the movie but is also full of brains. she figures out things that others don't even come close to! the other actors are great as well, but these are the 3 that i know well.



in the end, if you like a little suspense, a little drama, a little eye candy(ladies only), and a story line thats a little off the beaten path. this ones for you! i'd suggest going to see it in the theater, but if you have to wait just be sure to get it on BluRay and watch it on a big ass tv!!



back to work kids. have a good one!

new hair!

Katie Holmes :) this ones extra short but cute and choppy.


i like this one because the bangs are longer and its all straight


this is sort of like i've had before, but the layers are less. i'm thinking about going for not as many layers and chunkyness, keeping it closer to the same legnth


i just love this one! yes, even after all these years i still wish for curly hair! if i could get this look i'd happily curl my hair everyday!


i'm excited for a new haircut!!! so i've searched a little for some new styles, now i just have to pick one and go with it!

"" i'll take your breath away! ""

doing: a quick blog
feeling: VERY lighthearted!

Matt just told me that we GET A NEW ROOF! he finally decided to have someone come and check it out, he found a bunch of spots. even on the newest part of our roof(which is only a year old) so we had insurance come today and they cut us a check! for the house AND the garage!! okay, so the garage isn't rreeaallllyy nice enough to get a new roof.. but still, that'll be nice! nice for us, nice for selling the house, nice for Matt because he won't have to re-roof it, and nice for his parents because they were fronting the money for it!

NICE!



its seemed like nothings been going our way for awhile now. specifically since February. so this is a wonderful breath of fresh air! and a beautiful reminder that God is still up there and looking out for us! i thank Him every day for Matt and Ethan, and for all our families and friends. but its nice to know that He has a special push towards something that we really needed.

now that i'm literally on cloud nine! this honestly made my whole week!! i have to get back to getting some more work done! we've been rocking through our sessions this week so we need to keep it up!!

"" 3 in the afternoon,... felt like a lifetime... ""

doing: trying really hard to get some work done
listening to: Jango - Matchbox Twenty - radio! i like it!
feeling: weird.....

for the last couple days i've felt like i'm a step behind myself, of where i usually am. things i do every day, like driving my car, seem a little foreign or like i havent done it for awhile. its been a little odd. my bodys been off too. i just feel weird!

i hope that goes away soon and i get back on track.!

so, my brother went to Ireland earlier this year. this is the time when i get to be jealous of my little brother! i got to go to Rome, sure, and it was fabulous and i wouldnt trade it for anything! but i didnt get any opportunities in college to go overseas. he got to go to Greece and Ireland! i was glad that the Ireland trip was a "photography" trip. so they literally just walked around and took pictures the whole time! now i can live his trip through his pictures!
so i happen to have stolen them and now have them on my computer at work... thus making it easy for me to "take a break" from my work and play with some lovely pictures!
i'm trying to get him to pick out some so i can make him an album. but hes slow....:)

but i wanted to show off some of BEN'S beautiful work!










i love it all! and he took tons more! someday i promised myself i'll go there. he actually go to go check out the library in the township that our family is from! pretty sweet!

i should pry work on actual studio stuff...

"" love will hold us together, make us a shelter to weather the storm ""

doing: just got up. needing to do laundry but i'm just not ready to yet.
feeling: hungry!!
listening to: Ethan's cartoons


this week started out with a bang! well, okay not so much a bang as a 'i need to drag myself out of bed AGAIN'

we had a super long/hot and awesome wedding on Saturday up by Waterloo. 2 hour drive. we left eary and got home late. but all in all it was a great day!

on Sunday i took 3 high school girls to Catholics In Action. this retreat is held once a year in various places. this year we were in Iowa City. i'd never been to this retreat- not even in my high school time!- so it was a new experience for me all around! i wasn't quite sure what to expect. we left about 7:30 and started our exhausting 3 days! for this retreat each church group is scheduled to go to numerous different places around the city to help with yard work, painting, organizing and any other tast they find for us. the idea is to help others in need. pretty basic concept! and always a wonderful experience for both youth and adults combined! sometimes we get so held up on our own problems that we forget that there are actually people out there that do have it worse off than us. and that helping those people, even with the smallest of tasks, will put a smile on their faces and make us feel good about ourselves.


our group had some good places given to us. we did manual labor at all of them, but that was okay with us! we helped paint the Community Center on Sunday - everyone did that the first day.


painting


Monday we went to the Neighborhood Center and helped weed their garden and haul mulch. after that we got to spend some time with their daycare kids!


Alissa and Mandi with some of the day care kids

in the afternoon we went to the Ronald McDonald house and helped them do some cleaning and organizing and baking yummy treats!


Maria baking a cake!


on Monday evening we gathered again with everyone for a picnic and bonfire!


the girls with their friends from Davenport

finally it was Tuesday. we were all exhausted! up early, working all day in the heat and then to bed late is hard on you! but Tuesdays site is what we were excited about! a Habitat House! and since we were all over 16 we got to do the fun stuff like using hammers and saws and things! they had plenty for us to do and we could have easily been busy all day! we only worked from about 8:30 to noon though. we did some siding, cut some foam insulation and a few other smaller tasks. it was great!


i cut a super straight line! thats my tough face

we had mass on Tuesday afternoon and then we all headed home. we were very excited to go home, but also excited about the ideas and possibilities that the weekend brought us. they had us all brainstorm ideas that we could bring back to our own parish community. the girls came up with some great ideas that we are excited to get into action!

goal for next year... to have 6 kids going instead of 3!

"" cuz its gonna be wilder then any 8 second ride! ""

the country weekend that was!

we've been gearing up for the Wapello County Fair for a month now (and i'm sure everyone is sick to death of hearing me talk about it!) it was a joke at first. then Adam decided that we all NEEDED to go! so, we did. we planned it, we got tents, we got food, we got beer.... and we WENT! i even prepared myself by downloading and listening to the artists we were going to see!

and then Saturday finally is here! we got the truck and the car packed in and headed out for Eldon, Iowa. for those of you who dont know, Eldon is just past Ottumwa (so about an hour and a half from Knoxville) and it has 1 major attraction. the American Gothic House!.... please tell me you've all heard of that!!


American Gothic is a painting by Grant Wood from 1930. we were told its the second most recognized house in the world-next to the White House!

somtimes we just assume that people know these important historical paintings and landmarks.. but we happen to meet a gentleman at the house that hadn't ever heard of the painting... it was odd to us. he was from Florida and a real estate agent. him and his wife were headed to somewhere around Des Moines, saw the sign for the house and decided to check it out. he also thought Matt was Adam's dad.... so he was a little off his rocker i think.


Matt and i AS the painting!


All of us outside the house!


after our educational tour and some American history we headed back to the campsite for... pizza. what else?! okay okay, we DID bring hot dogs to cook, but couldn't have an open fire.. so we opted for quick and easy Casey's pizza!

sometime around 7 we headed up to the grandstands. the "pre-opener" was some american idol type contest of country music. only 6 people sang and only a couple were decent. after that the opener was on, David Nail! he was great and was really happy to be playing in Iowa! after him came our headliner, Jake Owen! he was GREAT! (sshhhh, don't tell anyone but i'm a closet country fan because of Jake Owen!)

(the picture isn't great... we were pretty far away. but we could hear perfectly!)

all in all we had a great time! oddly enough, the Wapello County Fair is a good time!!

"" yeehaw! ""

doing: trying to figure out how my laptop will work out for me today.
feeling: tired, but happy that its finally friday!
listening to: Jango, a new online radio station i found. we'll see how it works out for me.

this weeks been kind of long. long, but then when i look back it seems like Monday was weeks ago! there has been rain, which never makes anything go fast, and heat, and more rain and now more heat mixed with possible rain. i really think noone knows whats going on!

yesterday was a busy busy day here at DI. we had 4 appointments between the 2 of us. i had 2 1year old sessions that were a blast! and they both brought cake which is about my favorite messy thing to photograph!! Jeff had a senior in the morning and a family in the evening. and between it all we had the normal phone calls and such. but to make it even more intersting my computer decided that it needed a porn virus. yeah, i was thrilled. and the funny thing is that i think its a ANTI virus software that gave me the virus! wtf?!!? so my computer was unusable from lunch on yesterday and then Jeff took it to our super duper computer guy last night. so i'm working today on my laptop... which is okay, but everything is wrong. my wacom tablet doesnt sync right to it and some of my photoshop actions arent there.

its just going to be a long day i think.

but,....its FRIDAY!

Adam told us about 3 weeks ago that we were all going to this country concert. naturally we werent too excited about it. but once we all realized it was just a day away to relax and hang out together with nothing else to worry about, we were all on board! i've even gone so far as to download and listen to some Jake Owen and David Nail music (which are the artists that will be there!)
so our last minute planning - which is the only kind that boys know how to do-started wednesday. everyones getting tents and sleeping bags, lawn chairs and outfits/cowboy hats ready to go! i think it'll be a good time! i think--think--i'll be able to handle the heat, but i'd like it if it didnt thunderstorm on us, espeically when we are sleeping in a tent. rains okay, rain cools things off... but not thunder. either way i think we'll have a good time!

the good part thats come out of this rain is pictures. puddle splashing pictures to be exact! Jess and i had the idea to take Livy out to spash in some puddles for her birthday pictures! it was so fun that i decided that Ethan needed some too! he didn't need any prompting, actually he was already spashing before i even had my camera put together!



and, hes such a boy... he found 2 dead worms. had to bring them out of the water to put on the pavement... and then asked Matt if he could take them home! Matt just laughed at me because he knows i'm too much of a girl to handle that stuff! i fear the day i find dead worms or something in Ethans pockets.

another Ethan story. he never stops amazing us! we were at Ann and Adam's last night for dinner and Avery has a toy that plays different classical music. Ethan was pushing the buttons for her and looks up at Matt and says, "this on is like Uncle Ben's graduation!" Matt had to ask him again what he said, it was so funny! Ben's graduation was at the beginning of May, AND ethan slept through most of it! how he remembered that that song was played is beyond me! but also awesome!!

love that kid!

well, off to work!

"" i think possibly maybe i'm falling for you""

doing: debating what to start on first at work.
feeling: tired. this whole week i've been almost exhausted throughout the whole day!
listening to: haven't decided that either...

the past week has been fairly uneventful.

Ethan's been doing better about sleeping in his own bed the whole night! which is nice for us, cause we dont have to share our bed! also because, well, he just needs to sleep in his own bed!

he's gotten his potty trainging down to a T (sure we still have occasional accients). but now i'm just waiting and hoping that he'll start sleeping through the night without having any. since you can't really teach that its just a waiting game. of course he HAS to have juice before bed. we've been giving him just a little bit, but he still manages to pee everywhere! we have had a couple nights though that his pull up is still totally DRY! this morning was one of those times! i try to make a huge deal out of it, because it is, and so hopefully he'll get that into his brain.

Ethan's also still growing and learning every day. sometimes he'll say something and i just stare at him and wonder where in the world he learned that! i love it though, he's so smart - sometimes too smart. he's figured out that Matt only listens to me half of the time... so if i tell him no he'll just turn around and ask Matt the same question, and half the time Matt tells him yes. we're working on that - with Matt not with Ethan......

he likes watching IPTV in the mornings, which i love because all those shows are so educational! he loves loves Super Why - which is how he learned his alphabet so well! and he knows like every big machine known to man because of the Mighty Machines videos. thanks Canada for those..

in other news. today is friday - thank goodness! - our June has been slowly filling up and getting more busy. i'm almost all the way caught up on wedding albums (yeay) and as of right now our sessions are almost all caught up. i need to get back in the flow of session - edit - pretouch - print/send ... becuase once seniors start up full swing its all me, and i'm out of practice!
we've booked 3 weddings for June 2011! which is odd to us because we only have 1 wedding this June! but also good that we have dates booked out this far ahead! makes us feel good! now we just need our Seniors to start calling for this year and we'll be set!

well, i suppose i should do some work...
have a happy weekend!

"" i can't be changed - i can't be saved "'

doing: blogging and laundry
feeling: sore and exhausted!
listening to: VH1

this weekend was great! sadly, it wasn't any different for me than it usually is except for the fact that everyone ELSE had monday off as well!

we had a great wedding on Saturday! the weather all weekend was just awesome! i wanted to cry a little bit every time i went outside just because it was so lovely out! but our wedding was good! we werent out too late which is always a plus in our books! but the day went quick and everyone had a good time!

when i got back to town on Saturday i changed and we got right back in the car and headed to Pleasantville. there was a UFC fight and we were all invited to Hans and Patty's house to watch. i could actually care less about those fights... but i wanted to go hang out for awhile. Ethan and i came home about 10 and passed out--both of us!

Sunday we went over to my parents house to grill out with my moms side of the family! the Heckman's were up from MO and some more family came over. it was really fun! plus we got to see all of Ben's pictures from Ireland! he has lots....
Ethan took a good nap and then we packed up again and headed over to Nancy's house for her annual Memorial Day cookout/yard party/this year Caleb's Grad Party! we played lots of games of volleyball.... and my team lost all of them (sorry Adam). at about 8 Ethan and i headed home once again while the guys stayed over and played bags.

aanndd Monday! lovely weather again and nothing on our schedule! Ethan wanted pancakes for breakfast so we made those. Jess told us she was going to the beach and that sounded excellent! so we packed up, got Ben and went out there! Ethan had a blast playing with Daniel and Olivia. Matt and Livy made a sandcastle (yes everyone, Matt went to the beach... with sand... and i didnt even force him to go!!) about 2 we headed back home. we got to the top step and Ethan tripped and scratched from about his ankle to about his knee on the concrete. great. and then i had to put him in the freezing shower to try to get the sand off of him! poor kid, i'm sure people thought i was beating him. when he gets a scrape like that and especially if it bleeds he freaks out if you even look at it! so i had to wipe it off secretley... and look at it once he fell asleep in the car!
naturally he doesnt like bandaids... but he let me wrap it up with some gauze - because i called it a blanket for his owie! sometimes you have to get creative!

we were basically just lazy for the rest of the day. we went to my parents house for dinner. yumm steak! then ended the weekend with a fire in our overgrown fire-pit in our backyard! i decided that i like it down there and we'll have to start stocking wood now.

in other news. my garden is growning good! i took some mint from it and made some "adult" lemonade. SO good! and Roby picked a radish and we tested it out. radishes will be first to be harvested... but most everything else is growing good too! pretty soon we'll have veggies galore!! :)