Sometimes it's just nice to get away...even if it's just for a weekend! Wouldn't you agree?? Scott and I both decided that we hadn't been down to see my brother for a while, so last week we thought we'd make plans to go and visit him for the weekend! He didn't have anything going on and was excited to have company....so we headed down on Friday evening and stayed until Sunday afternoon. Kaelyn always enjoys seeing her Uncle Jake (and his kitty Mylie), and we had a nice time catching up as well! It was great just to be able to relax, eat yummy food (Cedar Falls has the best restaurants) and do a little shopping together.

The sad thing about weekends though, is that they always go by WAY too quickly! Sunday came before we knew it and it was already time to head back home to get ready for the work week ahead. I'm so glad we decided to go down and visit him though! We had such a nice time and hope to do it again soon. :) He will be up to visit us this weekend for Kaelyn's birthday party...so that should be fun!

Yeah, I'm so excited!!! A couple of weeks ago I found out that was going to have the opportunity to review a new George Foreman grill!! As a busy stay at home mom...I am happy to have any thing that will make cooking easier and more healthy for my family. I really feel that this grill will do that and am SO excited to get it in the mail. I am not sure which grill it is, but anything made by George Foreman is sure to impress! I would guess it should be coming in the next few days probably. I will let you know what it's like coming from a parent's point of view in a video review...so stay tuned!!

We came home today from visiting Jake, to find that we had gotten quite a bit of snow! We live in the midwest, so snow is expected, however....not in the middle of October! It's hardly even Fall yet, let alone winter! I sure hope this isn't a sign that it's coming sooner than usual...or that it will be a long one! Yuck!!

Although I'm sure the snow will melt away fairly quickly...driving home was miserable! As we neared town, we found ourselves in near white-out conditions with sleet like you wouldn't believe! I am so relieved to be home, safe and sound! I can now enjoy the snow falling, and on the ground from the inside of our nice, warm home...not from outside or in the car! I prefer that any day! :)

With all the rain we've been getting, Scott's pretty sure that this weekend he won't be working. That sounds great to me, as I was hoping we'd be able to go down and visit my brother. We haven't been able to make it down there since last March...so I'm really looking forward to it. Scott's excited too...as he and my brother get along great! We don't really have anything planned...will probably just hang out and go out to eat a couple times or something. Kaelyn will enjoy seeing her Uncle Jake too....she misses him!

Today I am one year older and it's crazy how fast the past year has gone! Isn't it weird to think back over the last year and all that has gone on in a fairly short period of time?? So much has changed in my life over the past year. The most memorable, and happiest day in the past year was definitely the birth of our daughter, Kaelyn!! She is our first child and has brought into our lives so much joy! I am truly blessed!! Last year at this time we were anticipating her arrival...and wondering when she would decide to enter this world and meet us! She decided to hold off until November 1st...but it was all worth the wait just to hold her in our arms!! :)

So far my birthday has started off perfectly....with kisses from my hubby and daughter and a sweet gift they got for me! I've been eyeing a super cute purse in our local mall for quite some time...and I guess Scott realized that. He surprised me with one of the purses that I have been wanting...what a sweet guy! I'm very luck to have him as my husband!! :) Seeing how my birthday is in the middle of the week like this...Scott had to work. But, I'm still looking forward to a night spent with him and Kaelyn later, just relaxing and enjoying a peaceful evening at home. This is my idea of the perfect birthday!!

Halloween isn't typically a holiday that we get into much in our family. We will take Kaelyn trick or treating this year, but we don't get into decorating the house much or anything like that. I enjoy holidays like Christmas and Easter...those that are all about Jesus and help to remind us of what He has done for us! Seeing how I like holidays like this, you can imagine that the following e-mail I received the other day was very encouraging and much appreciated....

Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all the yucky stuff-- including the seeds of doubt,hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside you to shine for all the world to see.

I thought that was pretty neat . I had never thought of a pumpkin like this before. Now every time I look at a pumpkin this Fall season, it will help to remind me of all that the Lord has done for you and me and what being a Christian truly means!!

Kaelyn is playing in her toy basket. :) She is sure a funny little girl. She never ceases to bring a huge smile to my face each and every day! It's the little things that really make me smile...like when she decideds to call me "mama" instead of "dada" ;), or the silly things she plays. As I previously posted, for the last couple of days I have found her sitting in a basket in our living room that has a bunch of her toys in it. Each day she's been dumping out the toys and sitting in there to play. At first, when I posted before, I thought she came across this "seat" by chance, but then the next day I watched her get in there again. It's really fun to watch her. I guess she's getting creative with her play which is great. :) I assume I'll be seeing her in her basket many more times.

Kaelyn doesn't watch a lot of television during the day. In the morning while I eat breakfast she usually watches Winnie the Pooh or Micky on the Disney channel, and then later in the day we usually put in one of her children's videos while I get supper ready. Her favorites are the Wiggles and Baby Signing Time. I've tried to put in others, but these are her FAVORITES by far. IN fact, when we tell her that we're putting it in the player, she gets super excited....starts laughing and dancing...it's adorable. I have yet to get her on film...but I'll really have to some time soon. It's too cute.

I took a moment today and sat down to check my e-mail in the living room. The TV was on and Kaelyn was watching the Wiggles. When I looked back up she had gone over by a basket that had toys in it...emptied it out and sat in it. I guess you may have had to be here...but I thought it was the cutest thing ever! She was so content in there just sitting...like that's exactly what it was to be used for. Kids are so fun...you just never know what they're going to do.

It seems our weekends fly by so quickly....we often try to soak up any family time we get together. This weekend we did just that as we took Kaelyn outside to play in the leaves for the first time. Our yard has a few very large trees...so, needless to say.....you can see more leaves than grass this time of year. It's fun though...now that Kaelyn is old enough to get out there and play in them some! At first she was a little unsure, but as she explored and discovered more....she really seemed to like them! She was walking through them, crawling through them...even trying to eat them (which she didn't). I had such a fun time watching her...I can't wait to get her out there again sometime soon!

We typically don't get out too much these days, as the weather is turning quite cold and it's not always easy to take Kaelyn out. However, recently we had the television show, Extreme Makeover Home Edition in our town doing a house for a very deserving family. We decided that this was probably once in a life time sort of thing for a town our size...so we took advantage of the opportunity and went out a couple of nights to watch them work on the house. It was fun to see the transformation from one day to the next. We even had the opportunity to see a few of the designers which was fun too. I'm really looking forward to watching the show when it airs in December.

I have been working quite a bit on Kaelyn's baby book. I have to admit I got a bit of a late start on it. She has a calendar which we got as a baby gift, that I put all of her milestones and special moments on. That has just been much easier to do than sitting down and working on the baby book. However, I figured with her reaching one years old already, it would be a great time to get started. Thankfully I had some of it filled out before she was born, and had all of the information I needed from the calendar. So far it's turning out very cute! I'm happy about that. I just work on it here and there when I get the time. It's an ongoing project, as it goes until she is 5 years of age. I have pretty much filled out all o fthe written information that I can at this time, and now am gradually working at putting some pictures in from her first year. It's tough...there are so many to choose from!

One of the things I"ve been working at doing specifically is getting the "belly pictures" ordered and put in there. We, as I'm sure with many others during pregnancy, took a "belly picture" each week. We have pictures from week 4 through week 40. It's been fun looking back at all the pictures and seeing what a trasformation took place. Isn't it amazing how God made a woman's body to expand like that and carry a little human being?! It still amazes me, even having been through it once already. Scott and I both looked at the pictures and couldn't believe how big my belly had gotten towards the end. We vaguely remember it being that large....crazy, because it wasn't all that long ago. So this has been quite the project, as I'm not only ordering them, but have edited in the week on each one. I hope that Kaelyn enjoys having these in her baby book one day. I know I always enjoy looking back and the belly pics my mom had taken when pregnant of us. :)

The baby book has been my big project over the past month or so...however it may have to be put on a hold a bit, as I have a birthday party to plan. And not any birthday party, but Kaelyn's FIRST birthday party!! I'm really looking forward to it...it should be a lot of fun!

Facebook is becoming the most popular means of social networking. Wouldn't you agree? It began with college students, and has spread to people of all ages from all parts of the world. I think it's great! I enjoy the opportunity to keep in touch with family and friends. It's absolutely the easiest way to do so. I can keep up on pictures, on job statuses and more!! If you haven't become a part of Facebook, or just want to check it out...I suggest you take a look! It's pretty amazing.

Kaelyn will be one in less than a month...that means we still have a lot to do. I was reminded of this as I opened the front door yesterday to find a very large box sitting on my front steps. When I opened it I realized it was a very nice gift from my brother for Kaelyn's birthday! He works for John Deere and always find the neatest things to buy the kids. For her first birthday he found Kaelyn a riding John Deere toy. It's not just any riding toy though...this is shaped like a tractor, is easy for kids to ride or push around and the seat even opens up and has a little farm in it. I'm saving it until Kaelyn's birthday, so Uncle Jake can be here to see her open it....but I can't wait...I know she'll just LOVE it!! :) Anyways...it reminded me that Scott and I still have a lot of things to get done before her birthday...primarily buying her a gift from us.

As I was getting ready to sit Kaelyn down tonight and feed her supper, I got a call from Scott on his way home from work saying "you'll never guess who I just saw". My obvious response was, "who". He told me that he just had driven into town and saw the Extreme Makeover Home Edition tour bus with Ty Pennington on the top pumping up a crowd of volunteers and other onlookers. We knew that they were in town helping a family of whom had not yet been disclosed, but really didn't think that we'd see them around. I guess when you're from a fairly small town though, seeing them around is inevitable. I told Scott I'd like to go down and see them all, so he came and picked up Kaelyn and I. We got there just as Ty was wrapping up his talk and were able to get a few pics of their bus and vehicles. Unfortunately we did not have time to get pictures of Ty or the other members of his design team, however it was still neat to be there and see all that was going on. It sounds like the family who received the "surprise of a lifetime" is very deserving. They have already left for vacation, and when they return next Tuesday their house will be built! We were told that the designers will be frequenting the stores around town...so who knows....maybe we'll still run into some of them?!