eco tri

Jimmy completed his 1st eco triathalon this past weekend. My mom and dad signed him up and paid for his registration for his birthday so he had no choice but to compete:) As stated in my last post it was a hectic weekend for it but he's really glad he did it and it was a lot of fun to watch.

So the difference between this eco tri and a regular sprint triathalon is that there is a kayak portion opposed to a swim. It was a 2 mile kayak, 8 mile trail ride (on bike) & a 3.5 mile trail run. Jimmy enjoys 2 of the 3 things - he hates running - and he did this with essentially zero training!

He and my mom rocked it, way to go guys! Here's some pics from the day!

there they go - such a pretty morning

kayaking through lily pads

ready to bike

the run

mom finishing

jimmy finishing

all done!

























10 years

This weekend was a busy one!


We had Jimmy's 10 year high school reunion, a bachelor party for Jimmy to go to, and a eco-triathalon that my mom and Jimmy signed up for. That's a lot going on in one weekend!


Friday night started by us heading back to Independence (where Jimmy grew up and went to school) to drop off Lily and meet up for night #1 of his reunion. Friday night they were getting together at a local bar so we thought we'd leave Lily with Grandma Grover and head that way for a bit. I think Jimmy really enjoyed catching up with several of his classmates while I hungout and made a few friends myself :) We decided to stay at Jimmy's parents that night so we weren't driving back and forth so we headed that way for him to drop me off before heading out to the bachelor party. He ended up getting home around 3:30am and of course our little one awoke nice and early at 6:30! I was pretty adament about not getting up just yet so I laid her in bed with us and next thing I knew she woke us all up again and it was almost 10am so it was nice to get a little extra sleep that morning! We enjoyed breakfast with his family and catching up with them in the morning Saturday before heading downtown Independence to the next part of the reunion. There was a local brew and BBQ event in town so they decided to have a tent at that event for the afternoon and evening. We brought Lily with us as we thought it'd be nice to introduce her to some of his old friends. She was a little ham, like usual, for most of the afternoon before I took her back to Grandma Grover's about 8pm so that we could have some more time out. We ended up heading over to another local bar after the event wrapped up and got back to CF just after 1am on Saturday.

So needless to say it was an early early morning for Jimmy and I - especially Jimmy on Sunday for his 1st eco tri (the eco tri will have it's own post so I'll spare the details here).

It was a really fun weekend and I can't believe I've been out of high school 9 years and Jimmy 10 already! Where does the time go? Events like this just stir up so many questions - are you where you thought you'd be after 10 years? Are you happy? Do you miss high school? Who has changed the most since high school? Who looks the best? Questions kept running through my head (and out loud) all weekend as I thought about them from Jimmy's perspective as well as mine and where I'll be next year at our 10 year class reunion.

High school was such a fun time for me. Filled with tons of great memories, friends, sports - and just being care free! When I think about where I thought I'd be in 10 years after high school I think I'm pretty close to there. I may have imagined a few more kiddos:) and maybe living on a beach but I'd say life is pretty darn good.

And here is the only picture I took from the reunion (bummer) - Jimmy and his good friend Mitch!

minneapolis

This past weekend most of my family hit the trails and headed to Minneapolis for a weekend of shopping and baseball - perfect! We try to catch our beloved Yankees at least once a year when they play somewhere near us - Minneapolis, KC, etc. so this year, Minneapolis it was.

Everyone took Friday off and so we hit the road late morning stopping after just a few hours for shopping at the Cabella's (for the guys) and Medford outlets (for the ladies). I got little miss some really cute things for fall and some new workout clothes for myself at Nike. We then drove up the rest of the way to our hotel in Minneapolis. We stayed in a great location - close to the Mall of America and Ikea, as well as a train to Target Field. Friday night we ordered pizzas and spent some time in the pool and hot tub, then played games in our room to end the night.

Saturday we slept in, grabbed breakfast, then headed over to Ikea for some shopping. I snagged a few good deals - nothing big but a few fun things for the house and for Lily when she gets a little bigger, then it was back to the hotel for a little relaxing before heading to the game. We wanted to go early because we had "standing room" seats and weren't exactly sure what that meant. We took our hotel shuttle to the mall then caught a train from there to the field. We spent quite a bit of time walking around the stadium looking for a good place to spend the game. Shortly into the game we discovered it wasn't working well for the kiddos so Jimmy decided to head back to the hotel with Lily :( My brother and his wife left shortly after that with my nephew and niece too. So, the game didn't turn out as well as we'd hoped and we decided we'd never do the "standig room" only seats again, but we ended up finding a good place to sit about half way through the game so it wasn't all bad!

Sunday we had breakfast then pretty much just packed up and hit the road home.

We had a fun weekend with family and it's always great to see the Yankees!

the gang minus lily & i - it's blurry and the only one i got of everyone :(

sister jacinda & bro in law clint

brother nick, sis in law kristle & kiddos devin & eden

mom & dad

jimmy, lily & i - you can't really see lily's onesie but it's yankees :)

the yankees

me & my baby

jeter

state fair

For the last few years my mom, sister, and I have head to the state fair for a day. We enjoy walking around to the different exhibits, checking out some shows, eating lots of crap - mini donuts and cheese curds are my favorites!, and doing some good ol' people watching. It seriously shocking what some people would classify as an outfit and quite comical to watch people attempt to eat while walking....aww the sites of the fair:) We usually try to meet up with my friend Katie as she's always looking for an excuse to spend another day at the fair but unfortunately, we missed eachother this year. Lily threw a fit a few times that delayed us and Katie's in-laws joined her and her husband this year so it was a little too much to coordinate - oh well maybe next year!

mom eating some spam at a food tasting - nasty!

mom & jacinda

eating some cookies - lily is staring pretty intently at that cookie:)

flash mob - one of the highlights this year was getting to see a flash mob

new tricks

Look what someone learned to do the past few days........

3 months

My baby girl was 3 months yesterday!


Since we don't have a 3 month doctor's appointment I weighed her at the hospital yesterday while attending a breastfeeding support group and she weighed in at 15lbs 11oz compared to her 13 lbs 12 oz at her 2 month check - so she's definitely continuing to grow! No length for this month.


She is doing so many new things this month. She is talking lots and lots- she coo's all the time and just talks to anyone that pays attention to her. I think she is going to be an extrovert because her little face just lights up whenever someone talks to her. Although she is quite young for it I think she has begun teething.She's showing all the signs - drool, drool, drool and more drool, pulling on her ears, chewing on everything, fussy, and I think I'm feeling something beginning to poke through! She has started grabbing - she has begun to grab and play with little toys on her own, as well as my necklaces and hair! If I shake a rattle or little teething toy in front of her and place it in her hand she will grab it and go straight for the mouth. She has really been trying to sit up on her own, meaning whenever someone is holding her, she's laying down, or in her swing or carseat she lifts her neck forward and leans way forward like she's trying to sit up:) She is consistently sleeping through the night and has begun to show more of a routine nap schedule. We put her down at 9pm and she sleeps until 7:30 or 8am, then goes back down for a nap at 9am for a few hours and then again early and late afternoon as well as an early evening nap - she likes to sleep! She is still wearing 0-3M clothes but I think I need to switch to 3-6M as I've noticed some things getting snug.

She continues to be such a joyful and happy baby. She really is just so easy and we are incredibly thankful. Starting back at work last week there have been a few days that I've just spent the entire afternoon "playing" with her and feeling so blessed to have this special time with her. I could hold her and kiss on her all day long!

Here are a few of her 3 month photos - it's already getting harder to get her to sit still for these! Notice the chubby chubby thighs and arms - I love it - our little chunky monkey:)

busy week

We had a very busy week last week. My sister and her 2 boys were here all week visiting from Colorado, it was so much fun to have them here and just spend lots of time together. Jimmy had never met our youngest nephew Sam, who's exactly 4 months older than Lily (he's 7 months) and I hadn't seen Sam since I visited Denver when he was just 2 weeks old! On top of all our fun activities it was my first week back at work so it was a busy one! It actually worked out well for me because I was able to leave Lily at my mom's all week in the morning's while I worked and then join up with them in the afternoon for whatever activities we were doing for the day. Kirsten (my sister) hadn't met Lily yet so I think she enjoyed the extra time in those mornings getting to know her more.

We started out the week with a hangout day at my parents. The kiddos played outside and inside while the grown ups caught up on life.

gma & the 2 babes

Tuesday we spent the afternoon window shopping in Grundy after lunch at Manly's - a little old school soda shop in the back of a drugstore. Tuesday night my younger sister Jacinda was able to join us for the rest of the week also.

ice cream time - eden, asher & devin

little sammy & i

Wednesday was a day in Cedar Falls so we all met up at my house late morning/early afternoon. The gang headed to Scratch bakery and Sweet Basil Market downtown for some goodies - 2 of the best places in town while I finished up some work. Then we enjoyed lunch at my place before heading to the pool for the afternoon. We were there all afternoon and had a blast! Cedar Falls has a great public pool with lots to offer all ages. We enjoyed the kiddie pool, the lazy river, and the waterslides! Funny story - I brought our camera to snap some pictures while there and not but 2 seconds after I snapped my first photo I was whistled at by the lifeguard and asked if I had a camera pass. I had no idea one needed a camera pass to snap pictures so of course I said no. He then told me I needed to go talk to the manager - so I headed that way. I was quickly briefed on the pool policy for taking pictures which I found rather humorous (good and safe) yet somewhat funny - he told me I could only take pictures of family and friends and if I was caught taking pictures of unsuspecting children I would be asked to leave.I told him I thought I could handle it so I was good to go:)

After the pool we did pizza and Scratch cupcakes at my place before calling it a day.

sister kirsten & sam (7 months)

asher on the lazy river (3 yrs)

devin (5 yrs) & gpa

lily lounging on the lazy river (3 months)

sister in law kristle & eden (3 yrs)

sam lounging (7 months)

kirsten & her boys

sister jacinda & mom

jacinda with asher & sam

Thursday was another bum around day and visiting all the pets at my brother and sister in laws place. In the last few months they have acquired chickens, a sheep, and a goat. The kiddos enjoyed playing on the trampoline, riding the battery cars, and petting all the animals - Lily wasn't sure what to think of all the animals - her eyes got real big when we walked into the place where they are all kept:)

mom & jacinda with peas from the garden

jimmy taking the boys fishing in the jeep

Then Friday was our last day of fun. We had a "craft day" with my mom, sisters, and grandma making hair pins, chalkboard frames, and fabric rosettes. It was a special day just hanging out together while attempting to be crafty, and visit with my grandma as well. It's so neat to think about all the memories we have together and the generations of change, family, and love that sat around the table that day. After dinner Friday night we had to say goodbye - which is never easy but we know we will see them again in a few months at my cousin's wedding in California!

gma & mom doing the craft

gma dieken & lily

gma & gpa with the grandkids

the girls

walking

Such a fun and busy week. I truly value the time I get to spend with my sisters (all 3 of them) and mom. They really are a few of my very best friends and I feel so blessed to have the relationship, and friendship, that we do. While it's always hard to go our seperate ways and resort to our own routines it really makes you treasure the time you do share all together that much more!

lets party

I have a little catching up to do so this is a post overviewing the birthday party I threw for Jimmy at our place a few weeks ago.

It was a fun evening entertaining and getting together with our families. My parents, brother, sister-in law and their 2 kiddos, my grandparents and grandma as well as my aunt and uncle that happened to be in town from California, his parents, sisters, sisters boyfriend, and one set of grandparents were all able to come - so it was a house full!

None of our grandparents had seen our place yet so I figured it'd be a great opportunity to have everyone over and celebrate Jimmy's birthday as well. I made 3 pans of lasagna, 3 loaves of garlic bread, casear salad, romaine salad, fruit kabobs, key lime fruit dip, mozarella tomato bites, & ice cream cake. Lots of food and thankfully it all turned out yummy - or so they all said!:)

Here's some pictures from the night.

clockwise - robin (jimmy's mom), jim (jimmy's dad), shan (my dad), bonita (my mom), brenda (my aunt) with lily

clockwise - randy (my uncle), steve & jalissa (jimmy's sister & bf), ron (jimmy's gpa), jimmy, & eldon (my gpa)

clockwise - elna & donna (my gmas), kristle (sis in law), & nick (my bro)

me & my baby

our family