Holding on

My sister, Katie, LUCKILY took two pictures of Benson while he was actually holding onto the horn of the saddle when he was on his pony ride!!! TOO CUTE!!! Thanks Katie!!!!

August 31

So, my favorite month of the year is coming to an end. How sad! I always get a little sad when August ends. Oh and Illinois is playing a trick on me! The high today is only 67 degrees people!!! It is too cold to be August in Illinois!!!!

Since 1895, the year they started keeping track of Illinois weather--this year 2009 has been the COLDEST & RAINIEST summer on record!!!!! Translation--it's been rainy, but it also hasn't been as HUMID!!!! That's the positive in the whole thing! Hopefully we'll have a warm fall and warm winter to make up for the fact we had a cold summer??? Doubt it, but a girl can always dream :)

weight

Sure fire way to come back from a cruise weighing 1 pound LESS than when you left....

Get super sick the 3rd night of the cruise because the ship is rocking back and forth...back and forth....back and forth....AND.... up and down....up and down...up and down....

It was not a good night for me! But, the plus--besides the fact that I'm still alive--I lost 1 pound!

We're back

Well, except for a few crazy events we have made it home safely from our fun cruise...

There was one TRAGIC event that occured on our cruise...Go to this link to read more...http://cbs4.com/local/Norwegian.Sky.NCL.2.1149821.html

This was such a tragic story and my heart goes out to the widow (and other family) of this man. It's so crazy to know that I was on the same cruise where this man died. So sad!

Eyebrows

So, before we left on the cruise I went to go get my nails done. As I was finishing up the Vietnamese lady who owns the store came up to me and said "You need eyebrow wax real bad. They so long. You need it". (I'm not making fun of her English or her race or anything--that's just really what she said). So, being the sucker I am, and always willing to try something new, I said "sure".

So, the girl took me in a back room (should have suspected something then!) and had me lie down on a chair.

This is how the rest of the event went down....

Me: I've never done this before.

Girl: nods and smiles (I think they do that when they don't understand what people are saying to them--I only guess that because that's what I do when they try and talk to me and I can't understand).

Girl: You blo your eyes.

Me: Blow on my eye?

Girl: You blo your eye.

Me: You want me to blow on my own eye?

Girl: nods and smiles.

Me: Like this? (I take my hand and start waving it at my eye).

Girl: no--you blo your eyes.

Me: I do it myself? Like this? (I put my hand in front of my face and blow into it hoping that the air will hit my hand and somehow travel up to my eye...didn't work)

Girl: No, no, no blo your eye...

Me: (Shaking my head and just staring at her....)

Girl: Blo your eye?

Me: ......Wait, close my eyes?

Girl: yes!

Me: got it...

---Then the girl proceeds to apply the BOILING HOT LAVA to my eyebrows---this is what was going on in my head during this process....

Girl: Applies the hot wax

Me: Holy #%*&%!!!! (Then I proceed to say a silent prayer of forgiveness...)

Girl: rips paper off my eyebrow

Me: What the #$%^!!!! (another prayer)

Girl: applies more wax and rips off more of my eyebrow....

Me: Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! #%$!&!!!! (at this point I'm fighting back tears)

Girl: starts to cut my eyebrows

Me: Wait, is she taking everything off?!?!?!?!

Girl: still cutting and tweezing

Me: She REALLY IS TAKING EVERYTHING OFF!!! Oh my gosh I'm going to have to tattoo eyebrows on my face!!!!

Girl: You all done!

Me: Right....

Girl: You look? (hands me a mirror)

Me: (I am staring at a puffy red streak across my forehead...) "Looks great! Thanks!"

Me: (in my head) What the @#%#$ was that?!!?!?

****The swelling has now gone down and my eyebrows look great! I normally don't think bad words but this pain brought out the worst in me....haha!!!!*****

Pony Ride

Benson LOVED the pony ride at Blackberry Farm...Too bad we didn't get any pictures of him holding the saddle...it was the CUTEST thing ever!!! He looked like he was riding the pony all by himself!!! So much fun!

Merry-go-round & round & round & round....

This started out fun....but by the 150,000th time around....I was starting to feel a little queasy...Luckily, the kids had fun....Look at Benson holding on like a big boy! He LOVED the merry-go-round!!!

Jarrett

Happy birthday to my brother Jarrett! We hope you have a fantastic day!!! Love you and miss you! Come visit :)

Blackberry Farm

It took me a few days to start posting these pictures because they were taken on my sister's camera. I'm also going to be spreading out he pictures from this family outing because Josh, Benson and I are actually on a cruise this week and so these posts are automatically posting each day....I had to spread them out to make sure I'm covered for the days we're gone. Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Like I mentioned earlier, Blackberry Farm is a "village" set in the 1800s...It's a really fun place for the kids and we all had a fun time!

At home, hanging out with Aunt To-to...

Sisters....ahhhh.....

Marilee

It was this lovely lady's birthday yesterday! I didn't forget, but I had already posted yesterday and I didn't want this birthday shout out to get buried in the blog and no one seeing it. Happy birthday, Marilee!! Hope it was a great one!

I have a need for speed

I'm ready for my license, Mom!



PS- he's just a cutie so I had to add these....

7 months

My baby is 7 months old today! WHAT?!?!

He's doing wonderfully--he's growing like a weed and having fun all the time. There are not 7 months stats because he doesn't have another doctor's appointment until 9 months.

His hair is taller than ever! He talks more than often. He chews on everything in sight--he's even eating his toes :) haha!

He's doing so great! He's getting excited about our cruise this next week-if it still happens, darn those hurricanes!!!!

Life is good! We love our little man so much! Life is just so much more fun with him around. I couldn't imagine it any other way.

Bridal shower

We had a bridal shower for Hannah Boice (a friend of our family) yesterday at my parent's house. My mom did the food--yummy, of course! Tori and I did a couple of fun projects--

The first was the strawberry topiary you see on the end of the table in the pictures below.

This picture of it isn't as good because people had already taken some strawberries to eat--hence the white space that is showing.

The second project was a "candy bar". It was really cute when it was finished. The pictures don't really do it justice!

The guests had little baggies they filled with candy and that was their party favor.

Over forty people came to support Hannah. She is so sweet and we are all soooo excited for her!!! Congrats!!!

out of town

So Josh is in Utah for a few days getting our house ready for the renters to move in on Friday. I miss him when he goes out of town. I just don't function as well without him. Same goes for Benson apparently because at around 7pm today he started getting fussy and there was no one fun to play with him because daddy was gone. We miss you Josh! Come home!!!( In case you can't tell it says "J + K"....Josh did that the other day at the go-kart race track. He's a cute boy :) ).

My brother

Happy birthday to this young man today! Hope it was a great day! When can we visit you guys again?!?!

Have my cake and eat it too

Josh baked me my own personal birthday cake--from scratch!!! He did it all by himself! It was delicious too! Thanks babe! And again, thank you for making my birthday such a wonderful day!

Hold me

I've decided that this little bug is never going to learn how to crawl or walk because he is always beings held AND he likes it that way!

Oh and check out his new swim trunks. We got them in preparation for our cruise we go on next week!

get your motor runnin'

The rest of the go-kart pictures...I realize we don't have any of Katie riding because that was the turn that everyone rode so there was no photographer...sorry!!!!

Grandma with Livi and Grandpa with Spencer.

Tori just took her time and enjoyed the scenery...

Livi and Spencer waiting for their third turn!

Boy am I cute!!

It was a super fun day! It was exactly what I wanted to do for my birthday! Thanks to my family for making it such a fun birthday!!!