We are uncles!

Joe and Matt have been so waiting for the new baby and to officially be uncles. They have made promises of babysitting whenever they need to (ok, to be fair Matt said maybe after she's out of diapers, but I think now after seeing her he will re-think that request). They were both super excited to see her.

(for those of you on facebook, in order to see the pictures you have to actually go to here: http://alandfaith.blogspot.com for some reason the pictures haven't been transferring)

Joe and Lauren came to the hospital the day after she was born. Joe was just beaming. You would have thought he was the new father he was so happy!   He really wanted to hold her, but it's been a very long time since he's held a baby, and I'm sure he has never held one this new!

But he got the hang of it pretty quickly...

 

Since Matt moved to DSM, he couldn't be there right away, he came down last night to see her. So you still think you are going to wait until she's out of diapers to babysit Matt?

  

Look at those nice "new uncle" smiles!

The new Uncles and Grandpa checking her out.....

 

And here are some pics for the Great Grandmas and Great Grandpas and great aunts & uncles and all the cousins that can't be here right now to see her as a brand new baby: (click on a picture and it should make it bigger)

Enjoy!

The nursery

It's just waiting for the new addition!

Always the bargain shopper, she found the crib for only $65 at a garage sale, but it looks like it has never been used. It's in great shape.

It even has the wise old owl to watch over....

Baby Shower and The Storm

Lauren wanted to do a baby shower for Sarah at her house last week and has been planning it for weeks. Joe & Lauren have been slowly updating everything in their house, and just had concrete countertops installed and she wanted to show it off and have it at her house in CF. Everything was going along just as planned, so they went to Chicago for a few days.

Around 4 am Friday morning their next door neighbor called to make sure they were all ok. They, of course, were confused because they were in a hotel in Chicago! We had a big thunderstorm come through that had a "microburst" with it with winds they estimated well over 100 mph. It took down trees everywhere in Cedar Falls. It was (and still is a week later) a mess for several blocks around their house. They headed home  to survey the damage. I went by Friday morning and was amazed at the damage everywhere.

This is their front yard. A tree took down the power lines for the whole area. One of the branches just missed Joe's car that was in the driveway.

This is behind their house. Another tree went down just behind it. Didn't even hit the house. They were very lucky.

 

Although with all the power lines down, Lauren couldn't have the shower at their house, so we moved it to ours.

It did turn out very nice, though.  Sarah has lots of new things for the baby. And the food was great. I have never had chicken salad, and it was excellent, Lauren, along with everything else.

     

This is Craig's mother, Rusty and his grandmother. Rusty gave Sarah one of Craig's baby blankets from when he was little. I thought that was neat. Something to be passed on to the next generation.

 

She only has 3 weeks or so until the little one is here. Of course, she's ready any day! I went over last week to help with some things in the nursery. I will have pictures of that tomorrow.

Grilling

We had all the kids over last night to grill. It was beautiful weather and we hadn't done it for a while and it was Lauren's birthday on Friday. We had shrimp that we brought back from Texas that we needed to use, so we made shrimp and fish tacos with all the cool toppings. They were actually very very good. Will have to do it again sometime soon. Craig said it was the best meal he had ever eaten at our house! I guess that's not bad, seeing he has only been eating at our house for 3 years! It was very good, though.

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Matt brought a present from Des Moines......two foam dart guns and a kid's bow & arrow. Goofy kids! (although I did get a shot or two in myself!)

It was a beautiful night to just sit out by the fire.

and Roxie REALLY liked the fire.

Tai just liked his new chair!

It's that time of the year....

There are many many things I miss from Wyoming.....I miss the mountains, I miss the quiet, and I miss family there.

And there are things that I like about Iowa that Wyoming doesn't have.....like green all summer long, and not much wind!

But one of the best things in Iowa that we really don't have in Wyoming (although I do remember stopping at Alcova when I was little at a stand there) is this:

Sweet corn! On every street corner they are starting to pop up. Stop and get them....$4.00 for a dozen. Then squeeze lime juice and chili powder on....YUM!
And on another note.....Al went to the Dr. yesterday and is back to work today. He's on a 20lb weight limit, and had to go buy some new clothes, but other than that he's good to go. He has another appt. in 4 weeks to see if the nerve is coming back in his leg.

4th of July

We went to Joe & Lauren's for the evening of the 4th of July. This is about the only time we see Lauren's parents, and Lauren's sister Emily and her husband Chris were home from the UK, so we saw them as well. I bought a new "point and shoot" camera because my last one finally pooped out, so I was experimenting and some of the pics didn't turn out like I wanted, but you will get the idea.

Joe and Lauren have a nice, older house, in Cedar Falls. They have done a lot to it since they bought it two years ago, including this week new concrete countertops, but the worst thing is NO YARD. But it actually works pretty good to just sit in the driveway that is off of an alley to grill.  It's nice to set your chairs on concrete and not in the grass with all the bugs.

This is Lauren, Lauren's mom Susan and Matt getting the grill/food ready:

Al, Emily (Lauren's sister) and Mark (Lauren's dad). I know, not a great picture, but you get what you get to get everyone in the blog!

Emily's husband Chris, and Olive, the first Chinese Crested in the family. She is Lauren's parent's dog. She really just looks like a tiny Tai: almost the same coloring and almost the same amount of hair, just smaller, although like Tai, she's a little challenged. She has one eye that doesn't go the right way. She's a doll, though, and likes almost everyone, especially if you have food.

 

Chris is from England and he had a shirt from Old Navy with patriotic stuff on it. In his English accent he said that he was an "American Patriot" for the night! But only for the night. We will give him that one.

Matt was leaving for Des Moines the next day so he was a little funky that night. It's a big step for a young guy. He's the one who calls almost every day and still the one that comes and sees us the most often (he's the baby!). This is going to be a little weird without him around. (Love you baby!)

Joe was at an all day volleyball tournament (like mom USED to be able to do!) so he was hot and tired (and maybe a teeny bit grumpy). Not too grumpy, just obviously tired and ready for bed. Leave me alone!

 

We have the second Chinese Crested in the family, Tai.  He, of course is the epileptic one that cannot stand being without a shirt. If I do say so though, he is the cutest one!

Then Joe and Lauren have the next two in the family. Clover is basically blind. He can see shapes, and he really does pretty good for not seeing anything, but every now and then if he's confused or doesn't know where he is, he will just start turning around in circles. He really is a nice little guy, though.

Then comes Violet. She is the last one (for now!) of the Chinese Crested dogs. She really is the only real normal one in the bunch!

We didn't ever end up going to watch fireworks. I was a little bummed, only because my new camera has a "fireworks" setting on it and I wanted to try it! Oh well......

For whatever reason, at the end of the evening, the guys had to see who had the biggest muscles. I think Al is just trying to keep up with the boys. He does do a pretty good job for 48, but I think Matt has finally passed him up! And the 20 lbs he lost when he was sick doesn't help, although he does look pretty good!

 

Although I do think Lauren is right there with them! Nice ones, Lauren!

:)

Matt's moving :(

Matt starts his new job in Des Moines on Monday. He's excited and nervous all at once, but looking forward to it I think. He doesn't have an apartment there yet, so he's staying with Matt & Erica in Ankeny for a couple (few?) weeks until he can find one.

IN THE MEANTIME......he is homeless. Well, not really, but he officially moved out of his old apartment Sunday and has been shacking with different people this last week. It's kind of weird having someone live (even for a couple days) with you again. The last time he really lived here was probably 3 or 4 years ago. It's a little strange. But it's been nice to see him, I think it's going to be more challenging to see him once he moves to Des Moines. He can't just call up 30 minutes before to go have lunch with him. I guess it's just one more reason to go visit Des Moines!  This dogs do like having someone else to sit on and cuddle, though.

I do hope he finds an apartment soon (and I'm sure Matt & Erica will agree in a few weeks) because he moved all of the stuff from his apartment to our house. It's amazing how much you can accumulate in just a few years.

And this in only part of it, the back bedroom is full, too, as well as part of the garage, and he STILL has stuff in his old garage to move! 

He had to give away his cat, because most places do not accept pets, but evidentially his things still smell like her because Roxie keeps going downstairs to sniff everything. Tai, even after 1 1/2 years, will not go down the inside stairs, so he just waits at the top.

Have a great 4th of July! We are going to Joe & Lauren's to grill out and watch the fireworks.

TTFN