Ledges State Park

To make up for the boring, lazy day we had on Saturday, we decided some hiking and a picnic would be a nice way to make up for it on Sunday.  Especially with the cooler weather and the fall colors right now.  We headed to Ledges State Park which isn't too far away.  Dan and I realized that it's been a few years since we've been there.  I don't know why we don't go more often!

Nolan organizing the pantry

This video may be a little long but I hope you enjoy Nolan's determination and his grunting noises.

Book Review - Touching the Sky by Tracie Peterson

After feeling only so-so with the first book in this series, I have to admit I went into #2 not really excited.  Thankfully, it exceeded my expectations.  I really enjoyed the different characters and as much as I enjoy romance, I also loved the drama/action that was in the book as well.  I found myself anxiously turning pages to find out what would happen next.  I would definitely recommend this book!

Disclaimer: I was sent a free copy of this book by Bethany House Book Reviewers so that in return I would give an unbiased review.

Book Review - My Stubborn Heart by Becky Wade

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. When going into a Christian Romance book, you have to expect it to be a light read. That's why I enjoy them. The thing I liked about this book is you could relate to the characters. I like that there were a mix of characters as well. I found the "elderly" group to be a funny addition to the story.

 

Even though I felt that at times the story of Kate and Matt dragged on a bit, I liked how it worked out in the end. I also liked how Kate looked towards God for answers and did what she felt He was instructing her to do instead of doing what she *wanted* to do.

 

The author is really good at describing the setting and making you feel as if you were there.  The way she described the town and the house makes me wish it was a place I could visit!

 

Disclaimer: I was sent a free copy of this book by Bethany House Book Reviewers so that in return I would give an unbiased review.

Omaha Zoo

A couple weekends ago we took a little trip to the Omaha Zoo.  It is a very large zoo and we weren't able to see everything in a day but we did see all that we wanted to see. 

Here are the Rhinos.  I think it's so cool how well they blend in.

 Tyler's favorite part.  The sky ride. (Tyler is in red, Dan is in blue)

Tyler with the big gorilla behind him.  Right after this picture the gorilla got up and started walking towards Tyler which freaked him out.

Tyler acting like a monkey.

Proof that Nolan was with us.  He was pretty tired/quiet the whole day.

The sloth that was just chilling upside down.

Book Review - The Fiddler by Beverly Lewis

This book was kind of up and down for me. At times it was a page turner and other times it felt slow. Overall, though, it was an enjoyable story line. The characters were easy to like and even though you had an idea of how it was going to end I was curious as to how the author was going to get there. I've never read a book by Beverly Lewis and this one interested me enough to try out some of her other books.

 

Disclaimer: I was sent a free copy of this book by Bethany House Book Reviewers so that in return that I would give an unbiased review.

Summer Bucket List

Tyler and I decided that this summer we would make a bucket list.  Really it's a way to make sure we continue to do activities and don't fall into the tv/iPad trap.  I got the idea off of Pinterest...of course!  Tyler did help me with the activities but I subtly came up with some that I would like to do or I knew we already had planned.  Like stay at a hotel.  :)  Here is how it turned out (I had to make the picture extra large so you could read the activities):

I am hoping to remember to get a picture for each activity and then maybe we can make it into a Shutterfly photo book or something.  Here is our first activity, a picnic!  It was a beautiful day for it and Dan was able to join us!  It's so hard to get a picture of Nolan so we took advantage of him eating and sitting still.  :)

I also wanted to share this picture of Tyler "reading" a book to Nolan.  Tyler picked Nolan up, placed him on the couch, and then they went through the book together.  It was too cute so I had to take a picture.

Random pictures

Since I had to write that book review I thought I should probably upload some photos as well.  Here is my attempt at taking a picture of the boys.  Nolan is quite a mover and it is hard to take pictures of him.

 Nolan and his cousin Owen.

 Cousin Ariana, Tyler, cousin Owen, and Nolan.

Book Review

Chasing the Sun by Tracie Peterson

Overall, I would say this was a decent read.  With most Christian romance books you know right away which two people are going to end up together.  Usually they don't get together until the last chapter so you have to hope the author makes the story interesting enough to get there.  I think Tracie Peterson did a good job by including subplots that made me read more so I could see how everything got tied together at the end.  While some plots were weaker than others, it was enough to hold my interest.  I also enjoyed the many scripture references and even the presentation of the gospel.

Disclaimer: I was sent a free copy of this book by Bethany House Book Reviewers so that in return that I would give an unbiased review.

Pumpkin Patch and Halloween

Tyler had a day off from school so Dan decided to also take the day off so we could head to the pumpkin patch and avoid the weekend crowds. There was hardly anyone there, it was nice! Unfortunately, we did pick the coldest, windiest day of the week to go. Oh well.

Here is Dan and Tyler jumping on the "pillow"


Tyler resting in the corn pool after many jumps in.



A benefit of having a five year old...he can take pictures! Now maybe Dan and I can start to appear in more pictures together. =)



Here is Nolan dress up like a horse for Halloween. He enjoyed watching out the door for trick or treaters.


Spiderman with his horse. =)

Do they look alike?

Look at me! Updating the blog again! Nolan turned eight months on Monday. He is working on his second tooth right now. He loves to roll around. He will roll all over the family room. It's amazing how much ground he can cover. He loves sitting in your lap and getting to feel different textures like your clothes or the couch. He sits up pretty well, but still has a tendency to fall over backwards. He now takes baths in the bathtub like a big boy...mainly because I can't stand baby bathtubs. He likes splashing the water and playing with the bath toys.


If you look real hard, maybe you can see his first tooth on the bottom. The one right next to it is starting to poke through.




Here is his eight month picture. He's making a different face than he usually does. Not sure why.




And for comparison, here is Tyler's eight month picture.

Video...again

I am trying to figure out the best way to get videos from my phone into blogger. If this works this time, this is a video of Nolan watching Tyler play. He is very fascinated by Tyler!

Trying this out

Just seeing how easy it is to post to Blogger from my phone!

Gosh, they're cute!

Nolan enjoying his book.


Sorry for the bright light, but I wanted to capture the way Nolan is so focused on Tyler. He is always looking around for Tyler and seems fascinated by him. It's so cute.



Tyler was the one that thought of propping up the book for Nolan. Nolan really likes it and now I will do it for him. Tyler is such a great big brother!

The Boys

Tyler holding Nolan. Love Nolan's expression.


Rarely do we get pictures with me in them. Here we are enjoying the zoo. Nolan's first time there!




Nolan really loves it when people talk to him. He will smile at almost everyone.




Nolan showing his support for Iowa State.

We're back!

Things have been busy around here. In case you didn't hear, we had a baby. Nolan was born on December 8th. He is a very good baby. He likes it when you talk to him and he doesn't like it when you put him down and walk away. He has really been studying his hands lately. He seems quite fascinated by them. He is just starting to reach out towards toys and will sometimes get his hand wrapped around it. Sometimes he will talk...it's very cute.

Tyler is a great big brother. He loves to talk to Nolan and will try to entertain him if he's crying. He doesn't show any signs of jealousy and seems to really enjoy Nolan. I am enjoying this while it lasts. I'm not sure if Tyler understands that Nolan will become mobile at some point and will want to eat/play with/destroy Tyler's toys.

Tyler has been taking swimming lessons and is enjoying them so much that we signed him up for the next level of classes (granted, he did start with the youngest class). I really hope he continues to enjoy swimming and becomes even more comfortable with water. We have also signed him up for T-Ball this summer. We will have to see how that goes. He can be very shy/timid about trying things for the first time. I hope he will end up loving it and I'm sure his former-baseball-player-in-high-school-daddy hopes so too!


Our first family picture!


Nolan's one month picture.


Nolan at two months.


Nolan at three months (the kid will not smile for these pictures!)


Finally caught a smile on camera!



Saying goodbye to Aunt Holly and Uncle Johnny as they head off to their new adventures in Oregon!

July!

In July my friends from back home came out to Iowa to visit family. While they were here we were able to meet up at the zoo. It's so weird getting together with people you went to school with but now you're all adults and have kids! It was a fun time.


One day Dan discovered a nest of baby bunnies under Tyler's picnic table. We had a fun time watching them. Every time we went outside after that, Tyler always had to run over and see if he could see them.

Tyler go to experience his first fireworks in July. I think he liked them but I also think he thought they were too loud.

This is Tyler being "normal" at the 4th of July party.

Some friendly competition between brothers.