Vacation - Part 1

Where to start!? We had so much fun on our vacation! We were gone for 10 days to Michigan and then Washington D.C. where Josh ran the Army 10-Miler for the second year in a row.

Let's start where we left off! Ryan and Martha came to Georgia to visit for the weekend and we had a great time, the weekend Ryan could get off work just happened to be the weekend before we were starting our vacation so we all got to fly back to Michigan together. That was pretty fun! It was an adventure for sure. Navigating Atlanta is always fun, and so is cramming as much activity into a day as possible. Not to mention near death experiences...here's us on the plane:


Michigan is always a jam packed trip. No matter how many times we say "we're just going to relax this time" it never happens. There is just too much fun to be had!

We got in Monday night, and on Tuesday, Dan and Kim and Kaleb came down from Grand Rapids to visit. We had a great time playing with all our nephews and watching them all play together! Here's a bunch of pictures from that:


Wednesday I got my teeth cleaned and also got a new hair cut, and got a new MI driver's license. Marth and I also did a little shopping. White's came over for some yummy soup and then the boys went to play Wednesday night basketball.

Thursday morning Martha and I went to her women's bible study which was awesome, then Josh went to go get his teeth cleaned. Then we hung out with the boys and went over to Schoony's for supper. Here's some pictures from that! Garrett really likes Buzz Lightyear right now. He's super cute walking around with Hunter's gift of a Buzz toy, saying "BUZZ?!" all the time. :) There are a couple of pictures on the end of Friday afternoon because they are cute.


Friday morning Josh and I had to run more errands, then we went out to lunch with Momma Eileen and had a great time.



Then Martha and I ran more errands while Josh played with the boys. Friday night the four of us adults went out for supper and desert at the Chocolate Cafe (YUM) partly for Martha and Ryan's anniversary and because it's really fun! Then Saturday bright and early Josh and I delivered a new car to my bro and soon to be sis-in-law on our way out of town...it's always fun to meet people at the airport, except when you only get to see them for 10 minutes. BOO. But, it was still great to see them (last time before the wedding!!!!)


Waaay too much fun!

26 weeks

A pic from a couple weeks ago (24 weeks):

Here I am at 26 weeks... 6 1/2 months. :)


Here's the fun we've been having this weekend with our guests! WHOO HOO!! And Aunt Martha threw a great shower!! We had so much fun- thanks for your part in making it a special day!


Martha and I have been getting comments everywhere..."oh your both pregnant how cute!" and inevitably I get the next comment after the 'How far along are you' question..."But you're so small!" Yes, first baby compared to second pregnancy not to mention the first one was TWINS, and the fact that she is 7 weeks from her due date....yes my stomach is smaller comparatively. So it's been kind of funny to hear that broken record.



If these two cousins have as much fun together as their moms have been- it's going to be great!

Baby Update:

It's probably about time! Tomorrow marks off 25 weeks. Weird that I've been pregnant for 6 months already. WOW! I'm thinking these next months will go just as fast- there's just too many BIG events coming up to let the day slow down!

So I had another ultrasound yesterday at the Doctor's office- We're a bit spoiled and get to see this little girl every 3 weeks. :) Soon it'll be nearly every week. We don't mind! The ultrasound tech showed us the baby's flexibility...absolutely straight legs with feet and toes very much past her head. Apparently she has long legs! She weighs 1 lb 7 oz so far which is pretty much right on track. She kept up her track record of showing the nurse and doctors at least one weird thing on the ultrasound. Every time we've had one there's been something that's shown up that they make a note to check the next time- and so far the next time that mysterious mark or black line has been gone. Poor Josh has two women to keep him on his toes with strange health issues. Ha ha. Well, actually not really- we're both perfectly healthy. Pregnant me has now survived probably the worst and also shortest bout with the flu I've ever had, and the longest chest cold I've had in years and been just fine!

How's this for a burn: So I get a flu shot yesterday while I'm there. The nurse says it's best to put it into muscle- hip/thigh/arm. She says to me, "I'm going to suggest you don't pick arm." Ouch.

Martha gave me Hebrews 12:12 a few years ago as a life verse...that moment revisited. :)

The Rodeo

Josh and I went to a Rodeo on Friday night! Ft. Gordon hosts a rodeo every year and we thought this would be as good an opportunity as any to get out of the house and for Josh to experience his first rodeo. Anyone else finding it odd that for all the years he lived in the Midwest he had to get to Georgia before seeing a rodeo? I thought that was pretty funny. Here are some pictures! Sadly, our camera doesn't do night+distance shots very well so they aren't too exciting, but here they are nonetheless. We really enjoyed it!

Barrel Racing

The rodeo clown performing a stunt

Josh laughing at the clown- he was pretty funny

Calf ropin'

And Finally...our house

Well, most of it. There are a couple rooms not done yet. I suggest stopping the afters slideshow because the before and afters are not in sync...I'm not that cool, sorry. So that way you can just look through one at a time without getting all confused.

Here are most of the befores:



And the afters:



Small side notes:
1. The first picture- with all the shelves and the mirror...is on the super long wall that before had our step ladder leaning against it.
2. The picture of the three diagonal pictures is in our kitchen, there was no before because it was large blank wall. The antennae is from our radio sitting on the kitchen table. :)
3. The orange picture propped against the wall in the bedroom has not made it's final home there yet...we're still deciding.
4. The red square picture hanging over our bath tub is the same red square that's zoomed in with the lights on in the following picture.

We have not even started on the baby's room. The guest room is waiting for a couple more pictures to go on the wall then that will be done. :)

Fall!

Football is finally here! Josh and I got to watch our first Husker game in GA! We had some friends over and made lots of food and snacks and it was a great opening weekend for college football!

Here's our documentation:

To get off my chest:

So there's this church on the way to base (well, who am I kidding, this is the South, there are 11 churches between here and base). They have one of those message boards and I'm not kidding the things they put on there are so MEAN! I can't get over it. They are barely ever positive. I've had to restrain myself quite a few times from calling them and commenting. This week's says "Without Jesus, life is as good as it gets for you"

I can see how you can interpret that in a non mean way...but who is this message meant for? Someone who's going to give you the benefit of the doubt? Probably not. AND, I'm not even sure it's truth...I mean logically it sounds like it is, I mean life without Jesus is missing the point...BUT, it should say something like THIS life is as good as it gets for you. God still works in lives of those who don't believe, the Holy Spirit still moves in their spirit to prod them towards God. Common grace still occurs from even those who's hearts are hardened. Maybe I'm missing the point.

What I'm really irked at right now, is there was a message back in June that both Josh and I noticed and the talked about nearly every time we passed it, that I can't remember now to save my life. Which I guess that's a good thing...these messages are hopefully going in one ear and out the other per the will of God.

But anyhoo. Just had to say it.