Limited Memory

No, I am not talking about myself, but I am talking about my computer. I was going to upload some pictures and I got a warning about my memory getting low. So I have been trying to back up all my photos so I can start a new IPhoto gallery and make some room available. My next mission is to make sure I am doing everything I need to maintain my precious mac. Dave isn't as familiar with macs and I know what I know but nothing in depth. I don't have much music on here, I do have a lot of pictures (did) but I still don't think I should have used so much of the hard drive. I have downloaded a few programs including Photoshop Elements which is fairly large but am thinking maybe I need to do some maintenance to make sure I am not wasting any space with unnecessary files. I know its been awhile since I posted but as soon as I get some new pictures going I will be sure to update. What is a post without pictures??

What else? Well, Dave is officially one year older as of Monday. We had crab legs for dinner, his favorite. The only difference this year was that he actually made them since I worked until 6. He went to lunch with his mom and tried to take it easy (but not too easy) at work. I have always prided myself to be a pretty good gift giver. I try to think of something that they will love but they don't even know they want. This year it wasn't too hard. Dave has really started to take up running and he loves gadgets. He was pleasantly surprised with his new nike+ipod gadget that I found which he wears in his shoe and through his ipod it tells him how long and fast he is running. It also saves all of his running stats on the computer and allows him to set goals for himself and keep track of when he reaches them. Dave loves gadgets, ipods, and is learning to love running so it was perfect. It has been around for awhile but I feel like it is growing in popularity. Everyone that I talked to at the Apple store just wear it all the time and it keeps track of how far you walk and you don't have to do anything but put on your shoes. Check it out, it is a pretty neat, inexpensive gadget that can help you keep track of how active you are! He is still waiting for one more piece in the mail to make it work with his older IPod so when that arrives I will let everyone know how it works.

http://www.apple.com/ipod/nike/

Yogurt and a Fountain.

Jaxson and I met Carol for lunch and some frozen yogurt at West Glen today. We were going to stop by a few stores but they were closed. Of course. West Glen, if you are reading this, you need to be open evenings and weekends. That is when people are off of work. It seems like all of the stores in West Glen are open 9-5. This isn't great for retail since they are hoping all the employed people shop there. When will they do this?? Not from 9-5 because they are working. Duh.

Anyway, it was a fun afternoon and Jaxson enjoyed watching the water fountains. It was nice and sunny, possibly the last 80 degree day until next year. BooHoo. We watched the water spraying in all different patterns while eating some raspberry frozen yogurt with strawberries mixed in. It was very good, Jaxson loved it! We went to Fuel and they have a lot of different smoothies and drinks. Similar to Jamba Juice if you have ever been to one before. You should go to Fuel sometime, they are actually open on the weekends. :)

Remember Dave's Prediction??

Hawks win.. Hawks win... again! Last year when Penn State came into town we were lucky enough to have tickets along with all the other freezing cold fans in November. Watching that game winning field goal was the most exciting feeling with the electricity in the stadium. Remember?? (Click Remember to read the original Penn State Post)

Pictures from last year Penn State game at Kinnick

This year didn't feel as amazing but it was good to go into their stadium, with all of the 100,000+ fans dressed in white, and not let the Penn State offense score after the first quarter. It was great to watch the Hawks pick up momentum in the second half and turn a huge blocked punt into a touchdown. It is fun that Dave is in such a great mood talking about how Iowa has the second longest winning streak, second to Florida.

Last year after the Outback Bowl Dave put his predictions for the 2009 season. How good did Dave do at predicting the Hawkeye season now that we are four games in? You can find out here. (Click here to read Dave's Hawkeye 2009 Season prediction)

Go Hawks!

And Vacation Ends..

Now that the labor day weekend is over and our vacation is over there isn't much to look forward to. :( I hate that feeling. This week has come and nearly gone and I haven't had much to write about. Dave and I have officially made it a year as of Monday, September 21st. Just being back from vacation we didn't take the day off but that doesn't mean it wasn't eventful. I received an email from Melanie (daycare) that I need to call her... asap. Of course your heart goes through the floor and you are expecting the worst. I called immediately.

First she asked if we have stairs at our house. I answered yes. Then she went on to explain that her son (almost 4) opened the gate to the basement (the basement is set up as a play area for the older after school kids) and that she heard Jaxson crying. She went to go check it out and Aiden (her son) said he just fell down the last few and landed on his back. Jaxson was crying, she picked him up and comforted him and by the time they were at the top of the stairs he was fine and had dried his tears already. About ten minutes later, just when she was getting ready to email me and let me know he had tumbled but was playing and acting normal, no bumps or bruises, he threw up.

I called Dr. Fred and he suggested to go to the hospital because throwing up after hitting your head is never a good sign. Better safe than sorry. I called Dave and didn't put the information in the right order. I said, don't freak out but you need to take Jaxson to the ER. Of course he freaked out. I explained the situation, Dave got Jaxson, met with a doctor at Mercy.

Jaxson was free to go 30 minutes later but we had to watch his pupils and if he were to get sick 2 or more times then he was ordered back to the ER. I came home at six to Jaxson playing nicely and Lilies in the living room and an assortment of flowers in the kitchen. Because we didn't get to celebrate our 1yr we are leaving Jaxson with a babysitter tonight and having dinner and maybe a movie or something fun that we don't get to do as often as before. Something to look forward to today at least. :)

What's in a ring?

One year ago tomorrow, September 21st Dave and I exchanged rings and were married. Thursday Dave lost his ring in the lake. It was a sinking feeling in my stomach. The boys had been playing with the football and jumping off of the trampoline for about an hour. The sand was tossed and turned as we trampled over it running around. Luckily we hadn't covered much area and were only about waist deep right off the end of the dock.



The search began. The water was very clear and you could look down and see the bottom very easily. After walking and walking we paddled the boat out and Leah and I leaned over the edge staring at the bottom waiting for something shiny to catch our eye. No luck on day one.


Day two we had an advantage. On Thursday night I had searched the yellow pages and found an underwater metal detector to rent. The best news was it was on 17 dollars for 24 hours. The bad news was it only went four feet deep and needed to be just a touch deeper than that to go out as far as we were. It was worth a shot though. They found all sorts of things, hooks, wrenches, and weired anchor things. Somehow Dave got the job of the metal detector and Holcomb got the diving job. He enlisted Leah for help to stand on him to help him stay under while he dug in the sand every time the machine beeped. After several hours no ring.

Our diver was chilly and this was the only towel, so cute!

Leah was standing on Holcomb so he could dig without floating up. Good thing he didn't make her mad that day. :)

Leah giving the detector a try

We continued to be on vacation doing fun things but each time anyone went near the water they were constantly looking down just in case they came across the ring. Still no ring. But we hadn't given up and Leah and I thought we would give it one more shot on Saturday before the Hawkeye game. Our technique this time was to lay on our stomachs on rafts and put our goggles and snorkles and just keep our faces in the water. It was very clear and very easy to see. With the snorkels you never had to have your face leave the water. It was a great idea. But still no ring.
In the end we did what we could to find that ring. We never gave up and if we were meant to find it we would have after all the hours we put into it. What have we learned? That material things are replaceable, even the ones that have meaning to them. Even though it is hard to think about Dave's ring is at the bottom of the lake it is just a ring after all. What else have we learned??? Never, ever, ever, where your wedding ring in a lake. Ever.

Big Vaca Weekend

We left Tuesday morning bright and early and made the 7 hour drive to Minnesota near Brainerd. It was a bumpy trip there since we woke Jaxson up at the time he would normally wake up to go to Melanie's and was up nearly the entire time. Once we got there he was estactic to see Aubrey and Tyler and was a happy camper instantly. The kids never stopped from the time we got there. It was a packed week of swimming, boating, playing games inside and out, and fishing for the boys.

Jaxson became increasinly more bruised as the days wore on and ended up looking like Rudolph the red nose Jaxson. He was running without a care following Aubrey or just not looking where he was going as he tumbled down this or that. He definitely looks like he spent a week in the woods. He napped and went down to sleep so well there I couldn't have wished it any better. We did a pretty good job of keeping his schedule as well. Hopefully this will help pay off tomorrow morning when we have to wake up and start life again. BooHoo. There were so many cute stories that I absolutely can't think of right now so I will just post pictures. That's the fun part anyway right?

Pizza for lunch in a white shirt. We had to loose the shirt for it's own safety. :)

Jumbo water trampoline

Fishing off the dock for the kids to see a fish.

Caught one!

Tyler's big catch

Intense game of scramble..

The seagulls were fishing right off the dock

Bringing in the dock for winter.

The path from the water back to the cabin

Oh Aunt B's

We stopped at the local coffee shop so Dave can download some updates to be able to do his homework from his phone. I just tagged along to let everyone know we are having a good time and enjoying the lake and friends. It is very good weather but it was a little chilly yesterday to swim so we toured the local town and fished from the dock. Today it is to be mid 80's and perfect to go swimming. As soon as we get back from the coffee shop to the water it is! I wish that there were lakes upon lakes in Iowa because it would be so peaceful to wake up daily to a lake. Enjoy the weekends on the water and enjoy the view from inside in the winter. I guess someday if we are lucky enough to be successful enough to have a vacation home I would want it lakefront. I think tonight we will spruce up a bit and take some pictures of all of us and then do some of the Holcombs in return. Will talk to you all soon.

Video of Tumbling Tree

From Forest to Fabulous (next spring)

As some of you know I have been after Dave to create a nice backyard since about the day we moved in. It has been a long time coming but we have taken our first step in that goal today. We had five pine trees in the backyard that created a wall of trees and no sunlight in the back of the yard. The only purpose they did serve was to hide the neighbors houses from view. After a quick conversation with Ben it was set, the trees were coming out. When Ben finished college he worked for a tree service company and I have seen him at work swinging in the branches at Paul and Carol's old house over the ledge trimming branches. He has all the professional equipment and confidence. I had no worries about my garage or house. Randy came along for assistance and they took a look and thought it would only take a few hours. This was a surprise to me, i thought it would take all day!

They got off to a fast start and just cut down the first two in a blink of an eye. I couldn't stop saying how excited I was and how much larger the yard already looked at that point. It was amazing. The it was the big boy. It was near 50 feet tall and full. It was the nicest of the five but unfortunately I wasn't feeling compassionate today and it still had to come out. Ben climbed way up in the tree and cut it down in thirds. Randy and Dave pulled the rope when Ben gave the thumbs up. A crack and down she came in all her glory. After a few more cuts all the trees were down and quickly filling up our driveway.

Jaxson sat in the patio chair on the deck and watched. He was amazed with the noises and the boys carrying giant sticks. He would "ooohh" and "aaaahhh" as the trees fell to the ground. I took pictures upon pictures. ( I know, no one is surprised) Only once was my picture taking dangerous when I walked down into the yard as they were cutting down the last of the big boy. It came falling down and missed me by a foot as I ran in the other direction. They are much larger falling than they look standing. Needless to say, I learned my lesson.

We are going to plant some taller along the back fence to have some privacy again and put down some grass seed so we can get a nice full backyard. We will put in a nice rod-iron fence along the driveway line so we can keep the dogs from the yard if we want. They would still have a ton of area under the deck, the driveway, and behind the garage there is a ton of grassy area still. We will put in a gate so we can get from one side to the other. It will be perfect. Maybe next summer we will be shopping for a playset to put in the yard for Jaxson and his friends to enjoy. I am extremely extremely happy about the beginning of a beautiful backyard. I wish it was the beginning of summer so we could keep working on it.

We owe Randy and Ben a ton! They not only gave Jaxson a backyard to enjoy but saved us lots of moola as well. Any projects they need help with Dave or I will be there for you! I can't thank you guys enough.










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