New Home New Adventures!

We have moved back to Muscatine, THANK GOODNESS!!!! Matt and I were so done with driving 20 minutes to get anywhere we needed to be. So we moved right down in the heart of Muscatine where we are 5 minutes from Matt's work 5 minutes from church 5 minutes from the store 2 1/2 minutes from the Library/downtown and 5-10 minutes from any of our friends houses (the in-laws are included in that 10 minutes away friend category).

The house is wonderful! Somewhere we can definitely stay for a while. I have a kitchen that is literally 6 times larger than my old kitchen. With so much counter space and a island you would think I wouldn't know what to do with the space...false, I seem to be getting along just fine. I still find that about 5 minutes after I enter the kitchen to start cooking it's a complete mess.

There is a fenced in yard which is wonderful with the dog, and it will continue to be wonderful when Garrick starts running all over the yard.

So we are here, and alive, and loving having our own space!!!!

Summer Time

So, as I promised I will give you a photo time line of our summer. Here it goes!

MAY


Family Photo!


We met up with Matt's cousin (well, their dad's were cousins...whatever that makes these two) in Nauvoo. We spent time with his wife and son. Mitch and Matt were college roommates... I can only image what kind of trouble they got into.



Ben Graduated from CFHS



Garrick started eating solid food! Party! He starting sleeping much better at night after this!

JUNE



New Haircut

My brother Joe left on his church mission to Malaga Spain!



Happy Birthday Matt!!!

I threw Matt a surprise Birthday party. He had no clue! We swam, ate food--Matt's two favorite things! So it was awesome! Thanks to the Washburns for letting us use their pool, their house, and for keeping it a secret.

July

Our 4th of July Baby!!!!

He slept right through the fireworks! It was great! Muscatine shoots their fireworks off right over top the river (from the Illinois side) which makes it really fun to watch. Ben and Jacob (two of my brothers) were with us as we celebrated.





Matt helped Garrick learn to ride Rocky. Hopefully this doesn't become a habit!


Also this month I threw a HUGE 50th birthday party for my mother in law. It was so much fun and a big success. I think I will have to put up a separate post with the party pictures.

AUGUST



August was crazy! We moved out of our house 2 weeks before we could move into our new house in Muscatine. So we have been living off Matt's and my parents for the past 2 weeks and are anxiously waiting for our own space again! But we are thankful for all of the kindness our family has shown us.

Since it's been forever!

WE HAD A BABY!!!!

So this is the picture from Garrick's blessing day. It was a wonderful and crazy time! Everything went great with the delivery.....and 6 1/2 months later



We are all quite adjusted! Rocky and the baby get along (thank goodness!)
Rocky will lay next to Garrick or nose to nose with him and Garrick will grab Rocky's nose and lip and whiskers and paws and he'll just sit there and take it. If I tried to do that to him he would probably just give me a dirty look and walk away. Thus the advantages of being cute, a boy, and 6.5 months old!

I will put up a picture time line to let you all know what has happened in the last year of our lives :) but for now I will say--see you!

Being Pregnant

It's interesting being pregnant. It's really quite fun right now. I am not feeling morning sickness anymore, I'm not so huge that I "can't wait to get this guy out of me!" and I can feel him move all the time! Yes, it's a boy, for all those who don't know :)

The funniest part of being pregnant so far is how all of these women feel the need to show me pictures of their latest grandchildren. I honestly can't count the amount of new born photos I've seen....maybe I can't count that high.....but still! They show me these pictures of babies like I should be jumping for joy about their "oh so cute" grandchild just because I'm going to have a baby in three months! But in their defense, I can see why showing off their grandkids is a fun thing to do, so why not seize the opportunity when you see a pregnant lady who works at a candy shop?

No stranger has tried to touch my belly yet, maybe I still need to get bigger.........I'm sure that adventure will come soon enough :)

New Addition

So Matt and I have been married almost 10 months now. It's been exciting, fun, and full of learning experiences. About two months ago we welcomed a new addition into our family. The first boy, Rocky Fillmore. He is a black lab and absolutely fun to have around. Our friends had puppies and they were at the end of the litter and wanted to be done with have puppies around all the time. So they offered to give us Rocky! (We re-named him Rocky....I think they had named him Beethoven, because he was the biggest puppy in the litter)

This picture is a picture of him the first day we got him.





and oh how he has grown! Here is a picture of Rocky at Matt's favorite fishing spot


He still looks like a puppy....but he's definitely a little more than 25 lbs now!!!!

He sleeps through the night and makes me go on walks every morning, so it really is a great deal! He loves to just hang out outside so I can just sit and read and he'll romp around for an hour or so and then come in and take a nap. Matt loves him too! When those two wrestle ....well you could just say, cheap entertainment :)

We are also expecting our first human addition to the family at the end of January. It's a boy! I'm pretty sure Matt has our son's football schedule planned out already.....so my bet is that he's going to be a musician :)

We don't have a scanner to put any ultra sound pictures up...but that's ok, as my dad put it "those are only pictures that mothers can look at and truly love".

So you'll just have to wait a few more months for those!

At Last!!!

We did it!!!!! Hallelujah! The crops are saved! a.k.a. We're finnally married! Talk about a whirl wind. I really wasn't feeling any pressures of wedding plans until the week before the event, in which I was truly grateful, because if people are that stressed out like that during their whole engagement....well let's just say, I can see why people go the Vegas route. I cried a little, and then a lot. I got sick, and then better (thankfully). But all in all I have no complaints...which I have to say, as the bride, is very impressive.

The wedding was perfect! The reception was perfect! I really couldn't have asked for more.

Now that it is all over I'm getting used to married life, which I have to say is much more fun than dating. It's much more relaxed. Not to mention Matt and I are both goof balls at times, so if you get both of us hyper, watch out! We've already had multiple dance parties in our kitchen (thankfully we have no downstairs neighbors...we're the bottom level apartment).

I'm also getting used to a new city. To be honest, the most frustrating thing to me is not knowing exactly where everything is in the city and not knowing things well enough to be able to give a hitch hiker directions. But other than that I am enjoying myself quite a lot. I'm meeting a lot of great people who live conviently close to us. So I'm sure our apartment will turn into the entertainment villa I so fervently decorated it to be :)

Beyond that, I'm enjoying getting used to the new life and enjoying the adventure!

Exactly 10 days (to the minute)

The last days are finally here!

Though it's been a quick engagement, I'm glad to see the last of the days are finally here. I've come to see that being engaged is WONDERFUL....for the first two weeks. Once I'd described my center pieces, the shades of colors for our wedding (to make sure people understand that the red and green I chose are NOT "Christmasy" looking), if I'm having a bridal shower, what my dress looks like, where we're going on a Honey Moon (which has changed about every week), and that, no, I'm not having real flowers...mostly orimami, etc. about 1,000 times, it gets very mundane. Not the fact that I'm getting married, just having to talk about it all the time.

So to the world of questioners--
YES, I'm getting married next week
YES, I'm so excited
NO, I don't have everything ready
&
NO, I'm not stressed about it

as for the rest of the details, come to the reception to find out because let's be honest, can anyone get a true picture of what my dress really looks like with my very technical terms? ("ummmm....it's ivory...and it has short sleeves....)

So, we're down to the wire. Getting the last things in order. Matt needs his suit, I need a bouquet. But when it all comes down to it, we are getting married, we have a place to live as soon as we're hitched, and we are both so excited to start this new adventure together!