Pictures: Summer Fun

Caleb & Dad washing the car

Such a good helperCool Kid

Me in my 33rd week

My little gardner

Helping dad in the yard

At the raceHe loved the cars

His favorites were the bikes

Car showTrain ride...he went 3 timesDaddy dancing at Mr. Stinky Feet

Look at my train

Police Cars

That is one huge duck!

George did it :)

Caleb reading.... he loves to read

Horses from the circus

Elephants from the circus

Mexican Carnival- Caleb's friend Addie

Our neighbors and new friends the Abernathys

Mexican carnival

33 weeks

They loved the ridesDad and Caleb on the slide

My friend Krisitna and my first Funnel Cak

Summer Fun

July has been a fun packed month. We have been working in our garden, before and after pics coming soon. For the 4th we went to a drag racing derby, it was so loud I thought Caleb may just not be able to hear anymore, to my amazement he can still hear and loved the races.

We also went to a 4th of July festival which included a car show, a super sized duck, hand painting, police cars, and train rides. In Kansas you don't need to go anywhere special for a great firework show, just sit on your back porch and watch the neighbor hood light up!

We have made friends with our neighbors and have done a few things with them. Just recently we went to the Mexican carnival in town... Caleb loved it and had so much fun with Addie. I had my first funnel cake and it was yum.... I could smell it the entire time we were there and I really thought I would lose it but it was good :)

The Circus came to town! We did not go to the circus due to the prices being outrageous. So during the day we took advantage of the free petting zoo they held before show times. Caleb's favorite was the horses and his least favorite... the elephants... he was terrified of Dumbo :(

Some thoughts I have had lately:

I am going to have 2 kids....feeling a little nervous.... I also can't believe Caleb will be 2 in August, man how time goes by.

I am not sure that I like the health care in Kansas.... I will let you know after the baby is born.

Caleb is so sweet and I often have thoughts of hoping he makes good choices in life and that Rick and I can teach him the right and that he will have a love for Heavenly Father, the Savior, and this gospel as do I.

I still miss Iowa but it gets better every day in Topeka :)

I have an amazing husband! I sometimes feel like I a am in a dream and need pinched to wake up... that our marriage and life together is to good to be true!

Something fun we do once a week is go to the library... this trip we took was to go see Mr. Stinky Feet. Rick was such a sport and volunteered to dance to a song.

We also enjoy going for walks when the weather permits and I have the best car washers in town!

I have also learned when your 2 year old is being really quiet there is a reason, hence the picture of all the tissues. George his monkey was his partner in crime!

Included are pics of Ricky doing yard work ( I sit in my chair and watch), the circus, Mexican carnival, circus animals, pregnant me at 8 months, our new friends, and other summer fun pics. These are not in order due to how they upload so I will put captions when needed and enjoy!

June 2009

Fun with Caleb

I have had so much fun with Caleb this month. He is at such a fun age. We have conversations with each other, he knows what he wants and can tell me, and he is so sweet. I love this little boy. I just can't believe that in August he will be 2 yrs. old. This has been an amazing time of my life.

Topeka has an amazing library. They do all these fun events and activities that are free to the public. We were able to go see birds from the rain forest, a juggling act, and this week we are going to Dino dancing. There is a park in town that has a train ride, a public swimming pool, the zoo, and a park with tons of fun toys. Caleb loves the train and is terrified of the zoo. The zoo was not like the zoo in his Curious George movie :) He is so fun and I enjoy seeing how excited he gets over everything. Children are so easy to make happy... all they need is your love and attention.

Keith Urban & Taylor Swift Concert

I would like to start out by saying thank you to Katie and Randy!

Randy, Ricky's twin, was supposed to go with his wife Katie to the concert but due to a new job he was unable to attend and so I went in his place.

I had so much fun. This was my first concert and I loved spending time with Katie. This past weekend I was able to get to know my sister in law better and it made me wish we lived closer to one another. Katie is fun, funny, sweet, and is just an amazing woman! Thank you Katie for a fun weekend and all the girl talk!

I was not able to get very many shots of Taylor swift, she was all over the place.

My sister in law Katie, she is such a blast!

So excited!

31 Weeks and counting....

We have about 2 months left before our sweet little girl makes her debut!

June has been a crazy but fun month for us. Topeka is a great place to raise a family and there is lots to do. We are making new friends, learning the town, and enjoying our time together in our new home.

Spiders

I hate Spiders! I can't even post a picture of one due to the fact that I squirm in my seat every time I see one. They are everywhere in Kansas.

We have, listing the top 5 here in Topeka;

Brown Recluse ( a ton- huge- dangerous- gross)
Hobo ( not as many as the BR)
Wolfe Spider
Yellow Sac ( the bug guy said we didn't have any of these, which is good because I heard they are bad)
Black Widow ( bug guy said he hasn't seen very many in the last year)

What does this mean? It means that bug guy came to spray our duplex and I haven't seen that many this last week. However, every time I start to feel a little better a huge recluse comes out of nowhere! (the bigger they are the more poisonous the bite) I then call for my husband who takes care of Mr. Spidey.

I get so worried that I am going to be sitting on my couch, which is brown and here will come Mr. Spidey to scare the living life out of me! So what is one to do? I will tell you what has to be done to control these spiders.....

get rid of all cardboard boxes ( this means I have to go buy plastic bins and go through the boxes with possible spider infestations)

keep all things clutter free

don't leave clothes on the floor (what? that is impossible)

try to be brave!

Even though bug guy came my dear husband gets to spray the downstairs again and possibly even bug bomb the house!

Is this all crazy and a little extreme? Possibly yes! I may be over reacting, after all they are just spiders and I did grow up with them in Idaho and they never bothered me. In my own defense, they are worse in Kansas, I am a mom with a small child who plays on the floor, sticks his small hands into unknown places, who doesn't know they are dangerous and you can't chase them. I also have another baby on the way and if I were to leave said baby on the floor for a few minutes while I went pee or do something I would like to know that Mr. Spidey isn't going to come along and crawl on or maybe even bite said baby. So maybe a little over dramatic but a mother has to do what a mother has to do!

Today

Today I feel so many things;

Tired
Alone
Bored
Scared ... I keep having braxton hicks, i didn't have them with Caleb, is this normal?
Isolated
Home sick

I am sure that all of these feelings are normal when you move to a new place. I am sure once I get used to our new town and hopefully make some friends things will be better. How does one go about making new friends? I have never been great in this area of my life, I am known as the sweet girl don't ever change. How do I get past that and actually make friends that would like to go to hang out and watch movies, go shopping, go out to lunch, and all the things that friends stand for?

If anything I always have Ricky, he gets to come home for lunch so that always helps me through the day. I also have me sweet little boy Caleb, who is a better friend than him.

Topeka

We made it! We have been here in Topeka for about 3 weeks now. Ricky loves his job and I am adjusting. I think that I am going to like it here it will just take some getting used to. We are in a family ward , there are lots of spiders in Topeka, it is hot, and there are lots of garage sales on the weekend.

We were lucky enough to find a duplex to rent and when I get it all organized I will post some of our new home. In the meantime here are some pictures of the last few weeks.

Me at 28 weeks
We had a chance to travel to Salina,KS to visit my dad, Caleb loves his Grandpa Briggs.
Caleb loves the pool and we love having a deck and a back yard!
Caleb and I making cookies for the first time in our new home.
Caleb's sleep schedule has been crazy and that huge thing in his crib with him is big dog, and big dog goes everywhere we go.
This is downtown by the library.
Our first day in town waiting for friends to come help us unload.