Christmas 2009

This month of December was so enjoyable but went by so fast. Richard finished his semester (and it is a complete miracle that he got everything done) and for almost 2 weeks now we have really enjoyed the days with no worry about getting homework done. Although since school has been out we have been so busy I feel. Work for Richard always gets busier when he is out of school. Right due to the weather and pipes freezing a lot more in houses and the fact that he doesn't say no to working late as often b/c he doesn't have homework. So he has been out late a lot of nights. Good for the budget, but bad for the family. He always amazes me with how well he does at handling everything and still trying to think and take care of his family.

I had a cookie exchange with ladies from my church and may I just say that a cookie exchange is the very best way to do it - you only make one kind of cookies but you bring home a lot of different kinds, but you don't have thousands of cookies.

We also attended Richard's work party which is always a nice time for me. It's about and hour and half away at a very nice retaurant and the boss always lets everyone order whatever they want - so we really enjoy ourselves. This was the first year that we had to get a babysitter and the longest I left Carson with one. he did fine and it was ok - but I do miss him a lot.

We had a birthday party for our nephew Chase near christmas and that was a fun time.

Now that I try to sit down and write out everything we did this month - it's hard to think of anything work writing down - but we are busy every week. :)

This year we had christmas eve dinner here with Richard's sister Melissa and her family. We made homemade pizzas and had a wonderful time together. But I'm sad i didn't take any pictures of that. then that night we drove down to jerelyn's again and spent Christmas with my family. My parents were there with my brother. It was such a wonderful time with the 3 boys together and Christmas time :-) I always love Christmas and feel just as giddy now as I did when i was a kid. This year seemed extra special to me because of Carson. I love the anticipation of it all. It was just great to be away with Richard and our family to be together.

Today I spent the day taking all the Christmas stuff down and now have to wait a whole year until Christmas again. :-)

I just Can't explain the overwhelming love I have for Carson. I love to spend each day with him and watch him all day long. I never thought I would say this but I love to be a stay at home mom. I was always one to love going out and was hardlly ever home -but now I just love days that I can stay home and do things around the house. :-) I guess it's the motherly instinct in me now:-)

Carson will be walking very soon. He is "talking" up a storm. He is doing great with all our traveling and is so pleasant.

Now our next trip - this thrusday we are leaving for IL, for my grandparents 50th anniversary party. it will be a long road trip for only a short amount of time - but my whole family will be together so we are really looking forward to it. After that i don't think we have any more trips in the future at all which is the very first time in our marriage I think. But as I said that to Richard we said we should probably go to CO for next Christmas so we are going to try to plan for that. hahahaha, what can you say - once a travling MK always a traveler. :-)

More things

I didn't want to put everything into one post for fear that people will thing it's too long and then not read the whole thing.

The other weekend we also got to see the Scranton Santa Parade. it was much better than the St. patrick's day (mostly b/c there wasn't drunk people everywhere :-)) We met some of our good friends the Vandalens and had a great time there with them. Carson didn't really care about any of it, but it's still free and something fun to do as a family. :-)

The month of November is also the month we celebrate our anniversary. (November 25th) We have been married now 3 years. I couldn't be happier with Richard. We love marriage (at least so far) and honestly so far having Carson has just made our love grow maturer and stronger for eachother. Richard constantly shows me unconditional love. He makes me feel secure (as secure as a human can) and is so good to me, I always feel like I don't deserve him, he always puts me first. He loves me even though I have a lot of quarks about me. :-) We have our "moments" and most of them i think have to do with Seminary related things, but even in those difficult times Richard shows me his unconditinoal love. I just hope that I can show him the same thing and make him as happy as he makes me. :-)

For thanksgiving we went to Jerelyn's house, she lives 3 hrs away. So wed after we both finished work we packed up the car again and took a drive to her house. This was our actual anniversary so we stopped and ate out at a "nicer" restaurant. Carson is on a good schedule, but is also very flexible when he has to be, so that is so nice. He does wonderful when we eat at restaurants and just sits in the highchair and chats with us. :-)

Jerelyn and I did the big thanksgiving meal and her in laws came (who i think have to be some of the nicest and thoughtful people I know). Mrs. kurty brought some things and I cooked teh turkey and stuffing and Jerelyn did the mashed potatoes and green beans. It was fun doing that with jerelyn. the food all turned out wonderful and we had a great meal. She has 2 kiddos now and it was so fun with the 3 boy cousins. Her house is layed out so nicely for kids. Wide open spaces and lots of toys. Carson didn't whine or complain one bit the entired weekend. he loved being there and Daniel was so good with him and theyn just played togerther a lot. It's fun to be in this stage together with our children. We both are pretty layed back about our kids too so we just had a wonderful relaxing time. Richard did a little school work and helped bryan out with a project on the house. Richard and I did do a little black Friday shopping (but just for one thing and then came back to bed) but we did get what we went out for so that was good. later on Friday Mrs. Kurty came and watched the boys during nap time while jerelyn and I went shopping. Neither of us are big shoppers so it was fun just to go peruse around without kids and spend time together.

We left on Saturday morning and met up with some wonderful friends of ours that used to live here in Scranton, but moved away, but were in the area for thanksgiving. So we spend a little bit of time with them, and then drove home. We stopped for some shopping on our way home and I got a few more christmas presents and then got home. Carson did pick up a cold, but b/c we did stay in the house most of the weekend, he didn't get off his schedule too much, so it shouldn't be hard this coming week. I'm always a little nervous about taking trips but Carson constantly shows me how great of a kiddo he is. :-)

Carson is crawling and standing and moving around so much. He babbles all day long (and sometimes even says "dadda" although not intentionally. Everyday his personality develops a little more and Richard and I are amazed at how much fun we have with our little family.

We love traveling around and seeing and visiting people, but were just saying how much we love coming home to our house as a family at the end. But now we have 3 weeks left in the semester and Richard has a lot of homework to do in these next 3 weeks. So no more fun and games and trips. I will be busy with baking, shopping, decorating and fun things like that while Richard plugs along in his school work. Hopefully I can find enough things to distract me from distracting Richard. December is really fun month, but also lots of things to do and remember to do. :-) God is so good to us to let us enjoy things in this life. God keep our focus on you and your plan for us and the world. Teach us to love you more every day.

Month of November

So Life just keeps plugging along. Sometimes when i stop and take a step back and look at my life - i wonder how do i ever get frustrated or anxious about things - we have a great life and God really shows himself faithful. Sometimes it feels pointless to be here in Scranton when seminary is slow going or seemingly endless, but God in his sovereignty planned for me to marry Richard who is the epidemy of patience (especially compared to me) and Richard just has to remind me of the greater goal for our lives and how much this really is preparing us for the rest of our lives. He has truly given us everything we need and blesses us daily.

God has placed us into a wonderful church - although at first not exactly what we had expected but as we spend more time there, we really are growing to love it and feel a part of a church body where the purpose is being accomplished for what the church was meant to be. It just requires patience. :-)

The middle of November we took a very fast trip to MA. I have a lot of family there and that is where we got married so we have quite a few friends there. My cousin is having a baby and they had a shower there, so we left as soon as we could after work on friday and drove the 5 hrs to MA. We stayed with my Auntie Terre and we always love seeing her and spending time with her and she is so so fun and thinks of so many fun things to do for guests. She planned the shower with some other poeple from church and Saturday morning I went with Carson to the shower. That turned out to be a great time for me to see people from the church and for them to see Carson for the first time. I didn't hold him the whole time b/c other people did and he had a a great time time with all the strangers and didn't mind a bit. He is so fun to have around.

After the shower was over we went to visit some friends of the family, the hilperts, and had a great time showing off carson. And in the evening we went to my very dear friend's house Lydia Marvin. We have been friends since we were kids and through all of my moving and traveling we have stayed close. We got married less than a month apart and we love love love eachother and the friendship that we have. :-)

Needless to say Carson didn't really sleep all day, except for the blurps of the car rides, but he was so jolly and in a good mood all day and laughing all the time. Sunday we went to church and again saw a lot of people that we used to know well. Carson did great in the nursery with strangers. Then we went to macaroni grill with my Auntie Terre and my cousin and wife. We can't wait until the baby comes and we are so excited for them, they will be great parents.

That afternoon after visiting Lydia's mother went packed up and came home. whew fast trip but very well worth it.
Carson got to meet Great Grampie Spence too and I'm so thankful that Grampie could meet him.

Joy of Carson

So I don't know how else to say it except that my heart is just overflowing with love and happiness with Carson around. He is so pleasant all the time, and Richard and I are enjoying this stage so so much. It's the best so far. Carson laughs all the time and is always so smiley and giggling and excited about everything. He really is the cutest thing I have ever seen and I just want to hug him and kiss him all day long. Unfortunately he is an active little guy and would rather pull at my necklace and twist and turn to see everything else. :-)

Richard and I enjoy him so so much right now. We love having him with us and miss him when we have to put him to bed. Every night as we go to bed we walk into his room to "check" on him and marvel at how cute he is. We wish he could sleep with us. :-) Despite his poor napping skills he is just a pleasant fellow and always willing to smile or laugh and loves our attention so much. The age right now is perfect, he is just starting to crawl which makes him so happy to be able to reach things he can see far away, but he isn't very mobile, his schedule is perfect, he sleeps at night wonderfully, and is eating great.

Being a mother has been the best thing, and sometimes I wonder if I'm starting to like to be home more than out. (Usually I am a social person and am dying to talk to people every day). But lately I think I just like to stay at home and keep Carson on schedule, and enjoy his smiles at home in our cozy place. Plus there always seems to be something I can do now, and I'm never bored. :-)

I endeavored on the task of making baby food this weekend. It wasn't too hard except that I didn't really know what I was doing and have a small food processor that requires doing a lot of small batches. But I feel proud of myself and hope to keep doing it, I think it will just get easier as I keep doing it.

Cute video of Carson close to crawling

God provides

I just wanted to share how God has provided for us recently. Richard's job is really hard for me sometimes. He works a 24 hr response job to fire and water damages to houses paid through insurance companies. (sorta like service master, but his company is very small) They travel all over Eastern PA and his hours are very crazy and not set at all. His "normal" hours are 8:30-4:30 but rarely does that happen, especially in the winter time with lots of pipes freezing. He could work late any given night or get called out once he is home any given night and also can be called out on weekends. it's small business so there is no organization or rythme or reason or schedule to how they do it. They are flexible with his school schedule and the fact that he works late a lot makes up for the days he goes in late due to classes. But needless to say, I can't plan anything ever (at least i feel like it's that bad) without always realizing that this will only happen if Richard can come home from work. He pulls a lot of long 13-15 + days, which help make up for the time he is in class, so he can get 40+ hrs. So we are always thankful for that but there are countless countless nights that frustrate me. I will have dinner almost done and get a call saying he isn't ocming home. Or I will plan on him helping me or going somewhere with me, only to be disappointed that he has to work. Never mind the fact that it puts a damper on his normal homework time. Well all this to say - this week I can be extra thankful for the job God provided for us. :-)

He came home the other day with 2 winter coats for me, 2 vera bradley bags for me, and 3 huge black trashbags full of clothes for Carson. All from 6 mths-18 month (some 24 mths), jeans, cordoroys, sweaters, long sleeves, button down dress shirts, sleepers, onsies, and of course it's all name brand. These people that have a damage in their home, if the insurance company is going to replace everything just throw it away, and that means Richard can take whatever he wants. We have in the past gotten our sleigh headboard and foot board, and an air conditioner, and so many other things. God is providing for us in an amazing way through this annoying job. :-) i was just thinking the other day that I was going to have to buy carson some things for the next size for this winter, but now I won't have to for a while. :-) God is so kind to us.

This is what our kitchen looked like as I endeavored to sort through things and wash it all. :-) It's all cleaned up now, but there was 5 loads of laundry that I did (and that was only the stuff I wanted to keep). Amazing!!!!

Race for the Cure

I had decided a long time ago that one of my "life" unspiritual goals in life would be to run in a race. Now that I don't play in competitive sports I have taken up running. I will admit I don't consider myself a "runner" but I'm on the road to being one. It took me about 2 yrs of doing it before I started enjoying it though.

I was planning on running in a local one around here last year, but in the middle of the summer I got pregnant and basically stopped running for about 11 months. I started up again as soon as I felt up to it (about2 and half months) after Carson was born. It was a slow process, but I set my goal to run in the Race for the Cure in September so I had that goal to work towards. It was only a 5 K, but it was lots of fun to do. I think that's pretty good for only having a baby less than 6 months ago. :-)

I wanted to do race for the cure in honor of My Grammie Spence (she is deceased, but did overcome Breast Cancer) and Richard's grandmother who has been in remission for a few years now, and Richard's mom who is fighting the battle right now. It was an honor for me to support research towards a cure for them, and also a great goal of mine to accomplish.

I ran it in about 27 min, which isn't too good, but 3 min better than I had been doing the week up until the race. So I was happy. I did it alone, and I would've like to have done it with someone, so next year that is my goal. :-) I loved it and will continue to do it.

Although I will admit, since the race I really don't have much determination to get up and run these days. :-)

WI/ MN trip

A week and half after I got back from the big CO trip, Carson and I left on another excursion.

We left on weds afternoon and traveled 3 hrs (My dady came and picked us up) to Altoona and stayed the night there. We were planning to leave early, but because Carson woke us all up earlier (3AM!!!) we just all decided to pack up the car and started our 15 hr road trip to NBBC, WI. My parents were so helpful and they had to drive out there to take my brother JEff to his 2nd year of college and they let me tag along. Needless to say I was pretty nervous about the 15 hr car ride with Carson, but he did great. Unfortunately I think it messed him up for the rest of the trip though.

We spent a night near NBBC, then after dropping JEff off we drove and hour and half to Rhinelander WI for Helaine Rozelle/Demarte's wedding. Again it was a privelege to be in her wedding and we had a great time. My parents were there and I seriously don't know what I would've done if they hadn't been there. They did such a great job watching Carson for me and I appreciated it so much. (because of the nature of the trip, I didn't have any bottles to give Carson so that added a new pressure to being in a wedding too). I'm sure they loved it, but they helped me out so much watching Carson for me.

Then the night after the wedding we drove 4 and half hrs to Minneapolis MN to visit with Juli ( my sister) and see her place and church etc. It was so much fun to see where she lives. We live so far apart that we don't get to see eachother too often and it was so much fun.

On MOnday (Labor day) I got up super early and flew home to be back with Richard. I was super nervous about flying by myself with Carson, and he had done pretty poorly on the trip so that made me even more nervous. But he did great again. Not as good as when Daddy was with us, but still manageable and didn't bother too many people with his screaming. :-)

Poor Carson slept in a different place every night and rode so many hours in a car, and his schedule was different every single day. So I guess taking all that into account, he did good. But it was pretty hard on the mother at nights especially. He jumped right back into routine though once we got home.

I had a great summer of travels but am thankful to be home for a while now. :-) We missed Richard while we were gone too.

CO Trip

So it's been sorta hard for me to keep up with this thing this summer. I've been pretty busy with trips and things.

In August we took a very big family trip out to CO to visit Richard's family, and for me to be a part of Rachel Pettit/Bercot wedding. We had some difficulty getting out there due to flights etc, but thankfully I didn't miss the rehersal or the wedding itself. (we were all excited because we were flying out of and back into the small airport right by our house, but it turned out to be a bigger ordeal than traveling to a big airport). Carson did amazing flying!!!! I was sorta nervous, but he just slept in our arms whenever he felt like it and relaxed in our arms the rest of the time. I think all the action kept his attention and he did wonderfully. I didn't worry about his nap schedule the rest of the trip. There was no way I could. But he really did a great job through it all.

Being in a wedding with a child and nursing adds a whole new dimension to all the events that go on. Thankfully Richard was there and basically I only had to worry about Carson when I was around to feed him. We stayed with Richard's brother Jason and Autumn (and Aspen) and had a great time with them. Rachel and Ethan are happily married and I have an obligation to make sure they stay together, being as I was in their wedding party. :-)

Oh one thing that was cool that we did for a bachelorette party was indoor skydiving. I must admit - I was pretty nervous about doing it, and I think nursing didn't help with the nerves at all. But boy it was really fun. Not scary at all, and an experience I would never have had other wise. A great thing to do for a bachelorette party.

After the wedding we went over the mountains to Grand Junction. (Where Richard and I lived our first year of marriage). Richard's parents and some relatives live there and it is such a beautiful place to live. We had a great great time. Relaxing SUNNY days. Not much planned every day and eating out tons. It was so fun for Carson to be with family like that and for him to meet them all. He is a good baby to show off because he smiles all the time at everyone.

Most of all it was so fun for the 3 of us to be together all day every day!!!! What a wonderful vacation.

Happy Birthday

Happy 25th Birthday to my self and my twin!!!

It's so funny how things change as you get older. Usually I like my birthday to be this huge ordeal and everyone know about it. :-)

This year I have better things to put my thoughts and efforts too. I still want to feel special on that day, but just having a family is enough for me and for us to be together when Richard gets off work. I guess I'm finally maturing about my birthday.

Jerelyn - (I know you never read this or go online, but I will tell you anways so my bloggers know I love you) Happy birthday!!!!! I love that we are twins, that we grew up together, that you are my sister for life. I love you with all of my heart and enjoy our phase of life that we have entered together. I pray for you a lot and love you so much. Have a good day!! :-)

Well as I wrote this - my day turned out to be rather bad. A lot of things went wrong with work and changed my plans for the day - and carson screamed for a long time. Oh well, you can't have a good birthday every year.

Now Richard is home and Carson is doing better and work is done. So the rest of the night will be a good birthday. :-) I am so thankful for my new family!!!!

Finally Summer around here.

It is finally summer weather in NEPA. It took until the beginning of August to get sunny and hot. But man do we appreciate it more now. :-)

We are busily doing things around here. It's so crazy how you feel so busy all the time but when you sit down to write about it, you can't think of anything specific. I guess life in general just keeps you busy.

Things around church (teaching SS, or weds night kids program, baking things for SS, taking meals to people, social events to attend) all contribute to some of our busyness.

My parents came by for a few nights last week. I was thankful because it was a free babysitting on wednesdays when I go to work, and I had a very busy day that day. It was fun to have them here. Then they drove to MA to visit my mom's family and on their way back to Altoona PA they stopped in again. Also I love being able to call my mom whenever I want. :-) A nice thing to have when I am used to the only contact being email. We have enjoyed talking a lot lately.

Over this past weekend it was so beautiful out on Saturday. I think it was the first Saturday this summer that it was beautiful weather and we didn't have to do anything or go anywhere and Richard was home from work this summer!!!! Wow! So we really enjoyed it. WE went to a park for a little and threw a football around and walked. Then came home and cooked on the grill. Lots of fun and very enjoyable.

Carson had his 4 month check up and seems to be doing great!!! Growing right on track staying in the 25th percentile. He did scream almost the entire time. It was during his nap time and after they checked him a little he just got so annoyed and flipped out. He didn't even realize they gave him a bunch of shots because he was already screaming so much. Oh well!!!!

My mother tells me he is a lot like me when I was a baby - when he is happy - he is REALLY happy and when he is mad - he is REALLY mad!! No middle ground, just like his mom. ;-) Overall though he is such a smiley baby. He is on a great schedule and sleeping through the night and taking wonderful naps with hardly any crying in his crib. when I go in to check on him he is pleasantly looking at his fingers talking or rolling around waiting for me to get him - when he sees me he always gives me the HUGEST grin. So so nice. :-) He has rolled over a few times from his back to his stomach is starting to figure out the whole wiggling/moving thing.

We gave him cereal this week for the first time. I think, like all babies, he hated the taste and the idea of swallowing something that was put into his mouth with a spoon, but we will keep practicing. :-)

Richard has been working far away but thankfully most nights he is home with us. It is so nice when the designated slow times at work really are slow. Carson and I have enjoyed seeing him in the evenings.

I have also been busy getting things ready for 2 weddings that I'm in. Making sure dresses fit me, working out travel plans, getting wedding presents etc.

Next on the calendar - Trip to CO!!!!!!!!!!!!! next weekend, Rachel Pettit's wedding and events and then a week in good ol' Grand Junction CO. I cannot wait to be out west seeing the mountains and cliffs of grand junction and spending time with Richard's side of the family. I truly am blessed by a great in-law family and miss them a lot while we live out here. So it will be fun to catch up. So I'm thinking and planning for that trip and cannot wait!!! Richard's mom has finished her Chemo treatments and soon will start radiation. As far as we know she is doing great through all of this. Carson Can't wait to meet her!!!!!!!!

The last 2 weekends

Man - we have been traveling a ton lately. But I love it. I love to travel and see people. (But at the same time I hate missing out on things here. :-))

For July 4th we went to Virginia beach and visited a ton of our friends from college. Words cannot describe my excitement to see them again. There is just something so unique about the relationships that we developed in college that we have decided we will probably never have again. We left Thursday after work and drove what we thought would be about a 7- 7 1/2 hr trip, but it turned into like 9 and half or something like that. There was a lot of traffic. Carson was going through this phase of not really liking his carseat either especially when we are stopped so the trip down there wasn't too enjoyable. But we made it and looking back it didn't seem to be that bad. :-) We stayed with Wes and Katie Kouba, Dear dear friends of ours, for 2 nights. They were great hosts. I'm telling you, they thought of everything and made our time so relaxing there. We went to the beach on friday and had a great time. Richard and I aren't the biggest beach people (you can tell that by our ghostly white bodies. :-)), but we like to go for a little while. Carson did really good too, even fell asleep on the towel in the shade for a little bit. He didn't really like the water but maybe by next summer he will be more fond of it. (I laugh so hard every time I look at this picture, I have it on my desktop and it makes chuckle whenever I turn on the computer) Richard got to fit in a round of golf with his buddy Wes, (and by the way played one of his bests rounds in a very long time. :)) and we just relaxed with great company. Jenny and Johnny Borchardt came over with their little baby for a little bit, (she is a dear friend of mine from college) and it was great to catch up with her.

Saturday we didn't do too much just went and saw some things, went shopping in a humungous mall (at least for me) and ate lunch at a great place, but I forget the name. It was cute and very good though.

Saturday night we met up with Kristen and Chris Lownes. Kristen is my best friend from college. Chris too was a great friend of mine. There is this common bond that we have with these friends from college that cannot be replaced or replicated. Kristen and I can just talk forever and I feel so relaxed with her and so at home. We went to church with them and then Wes and Katie fed us lunch again. (They fed us so much food). we left Sunday after noon for the long trip home, but with very happy hearts and uplifted spirits.

Not only was it fun to see them and spend time with all of them, it was spiritually encouraging, and gave us a renewed joy with where we are right now, and a renewed desire to stick with Seminary.

This post is getting long and I still have another weekend to go . . .

This past weekend we went to see my Sister Jerelyn. She had her 2nd baby on July 9th by c-section and Aaron Michael was born around 6 pm I think. He is adorable. Both my parents came back for this baby. So we drove down after work in friday and Carson met him maternal grandfather for the first time. :-) It was so fun to spend that weekend with my family. And to meet the little baby.

Now my parents have 3 boys as grandchildren. They are loving it.

Carson just keeps doing better and better as he lives longer. He was never too bad before, but he did have his moments. this week has been great. He falls alseep on his own very easily and doesn't wake up now from his naps and will sleep like 2-2 1/2 hours in the morning and afternoon with a smaller one in the evening. Which really works well for my very strict work schedule. he has been sleeping 9-10 hrs at night too!! It was like something just all of the sudden clicked with him and he doesn't fight what I want him to do anymore. He was pretty happy before but he is much happier now. ;-)

We are just getting ready now for our big trip to CO. can't wait for that one either. :-)

The past month

So where do I start? Carson is now officially 3 months old!!!! He is now rolling over from his stomach to his back. He is getting a flat head from laying on his back, so his awake time consists of bumbo to stomach, to holding, to bumbo and so on and so forth. ;-) I don't know if it's helping but his muscles are strong now and hopefully his head won't continue to get too flat. He is starting to squirm too in his crib and will be in a new position when I go into check on him. :-) He is entering the really fun stage, where he interacts with us a little, is developing his personality, and is a joy to watch. (And unfortunately not the laid back easy going personalitiy of his cousin Daniel, he already is showing he is a lot like his mother :-))

He really is such a joy to our little family. when he smiles his face just lights up so huge, and he does smile and laugh a lot. :-) It is the best in the world to see. He does have his moments of screaming and not going to sleep or waking up when it's not time but he is learning. Mom and dad (richard and I) seem to always do something that throws his schedule off. We thought that we wouldn't do anything once he came into the world, but we still continue to live our lives almost like we did before, visiting friends, leaving the house spur of the moment to do something fun, etc, so he is learning to be very flexible. But for the most part Richard and I try to be as consistent as possible.

I have started work now :-( I can work 16 hours from home and that is working out great. Then I just started doing 4 hrs on weds in the office at work. I found a babysitter and really God worked everything out that I was looking for in a babysitter. I had my first day back at the office last week and everything seemed to go well. I hope it continues to go like that.

This summer is just flying by so fast. We just got done a very busy week of a 5 day VBS at our church every evening. Richard and I did the 3rd and 4th graders together and had a blast. It was really the first "ministry" thing that we have done together and we found that we work together so well. We had a blast doing it and in my opinion made a great pair. :-) God answered so many prayers of our church for the VBS and it was a fun week, unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that week.

Richard is working a ton which is normal for the summer. Doing lots of over time to hopefully save up for our trips and for school.

This weekend for the 4th we are going to VA beach to visit our best friends from College!!! I can't tell you how excited I get every time I think about it. It will be a fast and long trip, but we are expecting to just enjoy ourselves the entire time we are there! I cannot wait!! I just hope Carson will enjoy it as much as us, and it will be a whole new adventure to do a big trip like this with him. Should be fun. :-)

Then in August we are taking a long trip to CO. I am in Rachel Pettit's wedding (for those of you that know her) and then we are going to capitalize on being in the great CO and visit all of Richard's family out there. Oh, do I miss living there and we both are looking forward to seeing those awesome mountains again, breathing the dry fresh air, and enjoying the culture of the west again. Richard's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at the beginning of the summer and has already gone through 2 Chemo-treatments. She is doing well through it all, but because of that has not seen Carson yet, so we are excited for him to meet them, and for them to enjoy his smiles in person. :-)

Beginning of September I am going to Helaine Rozelle's wedding (for those of you who know her too) probably by myself with Carson. I can't wait to see her again, but am nervous about going with Carson. He will be a traveling pro by the end of the summer. :-)

Jerelyn is having her baby in the middle of July and I will make a trip down to see her also. My parents will be in the states for that too, and my dad will meet Carson too for the first time.

I am trying to start running again - in hopes to loose this weight that nursing apparently doesn't help with. I was running a lot last summer before I got pregnant, and hope to get back into that, and possibly run in my first race this fall. We will see. (its one of my lifetime goals)

We have a wonderful summer ahead of us and love spending the time with Carson and I should have a lot to post and tell you about in the future. ;-) Have a great summer everyone.