Watch Our Pumpkin Grow

Justin loves his garden. He has experimented with several different "crops" over the years, but decided to keep it simple this year with some corn, sunflowers, and one "giant" pumpkin. When I told Justin several weeks ago that we needed to take weekly photos of my growing stomach (because that's just what people do nowadays) he responded with, "are we really going to be those people?" I'm not really sure who "those" people are, but I am pretty sure that yes, I am one of them. He won the battle for awhile because, frankly there wasn't much of a need for documentation until recently. Then the day came that he requested we start taking pictures to document the growth of HIS giant pumpkin. I, of course, balked at the inconsistency of his thinking that photos of one pumpkin are more acceptable than photos our other, CLEARLY more important "pumpkin," and won the war. We are, however, compromising.

Justin's Pumpkin


Our "Pumpkin"

Maru in the Box

According to Entertainment Weekly, cats like Maru and Nora the piano playing cat are more popular on the Internet than certain Hollywood starlets. What can I say? People love cats. This is my favorite Maru video. Even Justin giggles like a school girl when he watches it.

Zippy gets in on the action

Justin and I live in a relatively small house that was built in 1927. I LOVE it, but we are severely lacking in space - both room and closet space. Our second bedroom has served as our office/my closet/catch all area for the past 4 years and now has to be reassigned to baby detail. I spent the better part of a weekend weeding out half of my closet (kind of traumatic) so it can be shared with an infant in a few months. Zippy definitely knows something is up, but she's not letting it affect her routine. We may have moved the guest bed out of the room, but she's still managed to find a suitable napping place...the yet to be unpacked crib. Good to know she's not losing sleep over the impending changes.

Justin's Best Week Ever

I had to go to Kansas City, MO for a work-related conference in July. (This year I got to present a session about email marketing strategies, which was a lot more interesting than it sounds.) :) Justin had his vacation scheduled for that week, so I forced him to tag along so we could make it our quasi-summer vacation. He was reluctant about the trip until he realized that KC is home to some of the greatest BBQ in the world! We were only able to hit two renowned BBQ establishments, but they were both amazing. We had to document our experience at Oklahoma Joe's, which is famous for not only having great BBQ but also for its location inside a gas station. We opted to dine at the restaurant's second non-gas station location and it did not disappoint.

This was the line to order food on a random Wednesday night.


The amazingness up close


Best day of Justin's life


After dinner I made Justin stop at the Cracker Barrel because I've heard so much about them and wanted to experience one for myself. The highlight for Justin was buying Luke a John Deere onesie from the gift shop. And he gives me a bad time for being from "the country!" Here I am contemplating my next move on the Cracker Barrel front porch.


On our way home from Kansas City we stopped to visit our friends Todd and Shawna in Phoenix. We had a great time hanging out with them and learning all the tricks on parenting little boys (they have a 2.5 year old son). No photos from this leg of the trip because Phoenix is like the seventh circle of hell in July and we were pretty much confined to the house for 3 days. We did, however, get to experience the joys of the Wii, a couple of meals out "on the town," a short early morning visit to the driving range for Todd and Justin, and a trip to 24 hour fitness for Shawna and I. Lesson learned: Subsequent trips to AZ will be made during the winter months only.

Goodbye Andrea...Oh hellllloooo Edward

We have to say goodbye to one of our co-workers (and a member of the Twilight quandrangle) this week. She's leaving to start a new life in Japan, so we threw her a farewell party on campus. One of her parting gifts...an Edward Cullen action figure.



We'll miss you Andrea!!! :(


That's supposed to be a pucker...Fail.

A few of my favorites...

Just a few of my favorite baby items so far...



Hammerhead shark from Auntie Som and Uncle Mike.
Adidas jogsuit from my Aunt Pat (we won't call her a "great aunt" just yet, although she is Great!)
Shark tennis shoes (I couldn't help myself, but I think Grandma Linda paid for them :). Thanks mom!

No Doubt!

As part of my good friend Nancy's birthday present, I took her to the No Doubt/Paramore concert a couple of weeks ago. A few friends from work went along (because we love Paramore on the Twilight soundtrack), as well as my brother-in-law Jeff. To see Gwen Stefani rocking her killer abs at almost-40 and after 2 babies was strangely motivating. Confession: I have been intrigued by Gwen's abs since high school when I read an article in Seventeen about how she maintained her figure by jumping off of amps during her stage shows.


My friend Randi told me she expects my figure to look exactly like this post-baby. Ha!


Randi, Andrea and I making sad faces becauses our 4th Twilight friend Claire couldn't make it. :(


The birthday girl


Me doing an impression of Jeff and his bangs.