Mini-Update

Just a little mini-post :) Dave and I enjoyed some time away last week. We stayed at Cove Point Lodge in Beaver Bay, MN. It was about 4 miles past Split Rock Lighthouse. My sister stayed with Carson and we got some much needed R&R. We drove up on Tuesday morning, got into Duluth and decided to try the aquarium. I must say I was terribly disappointed. It was so expensive to get in and it was basically some tanks with some trout and stuff. Nothing worth writing home about or worth the $15.00 a piece admission!!

Once we got up to the hotel, we ate a late lunch and walked out on the hotel's mini-trail out to the rocky point that you can see from the hotel. It was an easy little hike and funny enough out on the rocks was the only place my cell phone got reception! In the hotel I had no service! :)

On Wednesday we drove up to Cascade Falls, Temperance River and Grand Marais. We did a bit of hiking at Cascade Falls but it was so beautiful there. The weather was wonderful too. I wore long pants and tank tops and was comfortable! We were lucky with 70's and only about 20 minutes of rain on Wednesday afternoon after we got back to the hotel!On Thursday we had a little more relaxing day. We hung around the hotel in the morning, went canoeing, and just relaxed and then drove down to Split Rock Lighthouse and Gooseberry Falls. I was surprised at how low the river and falls were at Gooseberry. I was also surprised at the amount of people swimming there! The water was so cold! My very good friend Nikki and her family happened to be up in Duluth on Thursday/Friday and we met them at Gooseberry so that was fun.

Friday was our day to leave. We got on the road fairly early and then stopped in Duluth to tour the Glensheen Mansion. I can't believe how big that place was! I'm so glad that places like that are restored and available to tour. Even if it was quite spendy. The history in an estate like that is priceless! I was impressed with the knowledge of our guide and the length of the tour. It was an hour and a half! I was curious to see if they would bring up the murders at all, as I've been told they're allowed to speak about them now but our guide did not. I was tempted to ask but there were 2 children in our group of 10 and if Carson was old enough to be touring I wouldn't want it brought up. No need to have that be the thing they remember most about the tour or give them any sort of nightmares. The place can be creepy!

We got home in the early afternoon and were exhausted for the next few days. I'm glad we had 2 days at home to recover before Dave had to go back to work.

In other news, I'm now almost 22 weeks pregnant. Dave and I have just started our first birthing class. We're taking classes on The Bradley Method. So we'll have class once a week for 12 weeks running into November. I'm just now getting to the point of feeling movement every day and even from the outside. I feel like I look huge but if I compare pictures to when I was pregnant with Carson I look almost exactly the same if not a bit smaller now so I guess I'm right on track!

We had our 20 week ultrasound a few weeks ago, I was almost tempted to find out the sex of the baby but held strong! All in all, everything looks good and healthy. All measurements were spot on and baby had all healthy vital organs. So we're happy with that!

Carson is really picking up his vocabulary. Every day he puts together a longer sentence or says something that catches me by surprise. My favorite thing he says right now is "I guess so". If you ask him if he wants to do something like eat dinner he'll say: "Um, I guess so" and he says it all so casually it's so funny.

Right before we left for Duluth, my good friend Cassie took some family pictures for us! Being laid off hasn't afforded me the luxury of family photos and I really wanted some updated ones and something good for the Christmas card. She's extremely talented but lives out of state so we were lucky to snag her while she was here. She's only given me a 'teaser' photo so far but I'm in love with it! I can't wait to see how the rest turned out.

OK well that's my update for now. I'll leave you with a photo from our last night in Duluth, there was a full moon over the lake. Couldn't have asked for a better time!!

Some Updated Pictures

Carson and I went to the park in Otsego today and took a walk and played on the playground. It was nice to get outside, it wasn't too cold and Carson had a blast. We took a few pictures.

Just Testing...

I'm just playing around with my 30 day trial of Adobe Lightroom2. I feel like I might need it! So far I LOVE it!

Happy Tuesday

I woke up today thinking it was Wednesday or Thursday. I hate that reality check...blech! At least it's nice weather out...finally. I still feel like it's spring since the weather has been so icky and rainy and cold, but in reality it's mid-June! How crazy is that?

Carson's Dr. appointment went really well on Friday. He's super healthy and growing right on track. No shots for him, actually no shots until he is 5 besides flu shots so that is good news for me...well him too! Haha. So we don't have to go back until he's 2! Wow it's crazy. The only way we could keep him occupied during the wait for the doctor was to feed him goldfish and allow him to touch and play with anything he could reach. Haha. After the appointment, we went out to Minnehaha Falls for a picnic with the Navy people that Dave works with. It was a bit too windy but still very nice out. It was the first time in a long time that I've been out there and the river was so high and the Falls were beautiful.


Sunday we went to the cabin to celebrate Father's Day. It was just a beautiful day out. We finally we got to go out on the pontoon, something I've been waiting to do for a few years. I was actually panicked! Haha, Luckily for all of us Steve is an excellent pontoon driver! Carson was a little bit tired so there was some meltdowns but he was actually really good when he could sit on Steve's lap and honk the horn. The daycare lady had picked him up a life jacket and he looked so cute!

Well that is my picture-tastic update. I have even more because I took about a bazillion pictures this weekend. I'll make sure and update again soon so that I can post some of my other ones. They turned out great.

Oh...actually speaking of pictures. I got asked today to take pictures at our company summer outing in July. I accepted and immediately thought I was going to throw up. I'm so nervous but it will be good for me. Talk to you all soon!

Convert

I am the proud owner of a MacBook and I am in love.  I swear this is a thing of beauty!  I am officially a convert and I'm pretty sure that when we need to upgrade our desktop I will be pushing hard for an iMac.  We'll see how Dave feels about that one!  It was hard enough to convince him that I needed this one.  Trying to convince him that he needs one is another story! Haha.

We have Dave's buddy coming into town tonight for most of the week.  I'm out of work Wednesday through Friday to assist with the requisite Minnesota "sight seeing" you know, the Mall of America, Science Museum, IKEA (that's probably more for me), the Zoo you know whatever he wants to do.  Dave's schedule is less flexible than mine so I'm not sure how much time he'll be able to actually be out of work.

So...if any of you all have an AIM account let me know, as now I have a messenger.  We'll definitely be using that when we leave so I'd like to build up my contacts while we're still here.  Leave me a comment or shoot an email.  I'm honestly not even sure what mine will be since I haven't used it yet.  Haha!  K - here's my latest photo-editing project.  Talk to you all soon.

Addiction

I've gone over the deep end. I am addicted to Goldfish crackers. SERIOUS! Cant.Stop.Eating.Them. I go through weird food phases...it's kind of OCD. I'll be stuck on something for a few weeks (stuck to the point that if I don't have whatever it is, it's all I think about) and then it passes and I move onto something else. The last few weeks it has been Reese's mini peanut butter cups...now it's Goldfish. I suppose Goldfish are a little healthier but still. I worry about myself! I mean, I'm even taking pictures of them!! :)

Carson is getting more teeth. I think I mentioned already here that he had a new one pop through a few weeks ago, but seriously it feels like all of his gums are swollen. I was feeling around in there tonight and I can feel a little one poking through on top, it might be a molar even for where it's located. Exciting stuff. I'm for sure ready for the teething to be done!

We have a very exciting weekend coming up...We're going out to dinner with Dave's Mom, Aunt and Brother!! WOOT! They are taking us to Northland Inn for seafood buffet which most of you know is a total favorite of mine. The food, the desserts, EVERYTHING is fantastic! After dinner, my parents are taking Carson overnight and we're actually going OUT! I got to go out drinking once in September right before Kate had Lydia but Dave couldn't come, so it will be nice to get out and get to bring him along! Exciting stuff!

There is a hockey game on tonight...actually it already started but Dave isn't home so it's recording and we'll catch up once he's home. I'm really hoping we win tonight. Monday's game was pitiful!

OK!! I need opinions, of the two pictures below, which do you prefer? Color or the B&W. Please be honest! I'll give my opinion in the next entry. I'm curious to get some unbiased feedback! Thanks All!

This is for Karen!

Carson got upset when he heard you were threatening a boycott of the blog. Haha, so we took pictures today especially for you. Carson wasn't thrilled about it at first but warmed up quick enough!

Carson had his 15 month check up last week. He's 24.5 lbs and FINALLY is done with shots until he is 5, with the exception of flu shots. Nice! He remembered the doctor's office and right when we got there he threw a fit. It's nice that for the next few appointments anyways he won't have to get poked at all. The doctor did most of the exam with him on my lap to keep him calm since he was pretty upset about being there. Healthy as can be though!

Work has been same-old, same-old. Very, very busy. Usually that was my update time, during the day during a down period but I don't have many of those anymore! It's nice to be kept busy but at the same time, I'm feeling neglectful of the blog. I've got to set myself some calendar reminders at work to keep up! I'll try that this week and see how it goes!

Well, we found out last week that we didn't get the extension with the Navy that we were hoping for. So, it looks like we'll be leaving Minnesota sooner than we'd hoped. We're still trying to get everything figured out as to when we'll be leaving and where we'll be going so I promise that as soon as we have more information we'll share it. I haven't told my work yet and I'd rather not get into specifics until we know for sure. It's still sinking in for me honestly.

We had Kate and Erik and kids over last weekend and I took some pictures for them with my new backdrop stuff...still trying to figure out the lighting and how to get it right. I think I did a better job with Carson this afternoon. It's funny how the things you should try come to you about an hour after you've taken the pictures and then you do the *face-palm*. I'm getting better though and I'm just leaving my stuff set up in the basement for now so that I don't have to worry about taking down and setting back up. That tends to be a deterrent because it takes so dang long. If I just leave it all set up all I have to do is insert children. Haha!

Well, tis Sunday night and I really should get headed to bed. I sure do love the later evenings with the daylight but going back to super-darkness when I wake up in the morning is rough. I have to be extra-motivated to drag myself out of bed to get to work in time.

Talk to you all soon!

It Is March

I can't believe I went the entire month of February and hardly updated. Ugh, the time is flying by. I'm taking a much needed break at work. If you're wondering why I've been MIA it's because I've been buried under an in-box that is taller than I am for the last month or two. I swear the minute I feel like I'm caught up I get a new project coming in. It's good though I guess but it definately makes me NOT want to jump on the computer once I'm home to update. I haven't taken a picture of Carson or Bits in weeks...lol time to catch up I guess!

Bits is doing really well...she hasn't had an accident that wasn't our fault in, well, a really long time. She whines to go outside, she sleeps in her kennel all night without a peep, she's tolerant of baths and nail clipping. She's doing great. She had her 1st vet visit with me on the 1st of March. She had her 1st shots with the people we bought her from. She did fine, got a clean bill of health. She does have a little hernia but they can fix that when she gets spayed.

My birthday went fine. On Friday the 29th, Dave and I went out with a couple that I know from work. We went to Seafood Buffet at the Northland Inn...Officially my favorite place to eat EVER. We had a good time but Dave wasn't feeling great. Saturday we had dinner at my parents for my birthday and Dave started really feeling icky. He pretty much has been sick ever since. I think he got the Flu. Carson and I luckily have been fine, so far anyways. We both had our flu shots in the fall and Dave didn't. So, if Carson and I escape this one without getting sick, I will forever be an advocate of the Flu Shot.

I'll have some exciting packages showing up either today or tomorrow. I found a website that sells some photography stuff that I want/need and I used some birthday money to purchase. I'm excited and Kate and her family are coming over this weekend to play. Yay! Keep the boys upstairs with the Wii and the women and children can play with taking pictures!

Well, I would love to stay and chat but I seriously have to do some work with the hour and 1/2 that I have left of my day. I will be back!

Holly It Is

We finally decided on a name for the new puppy. She will be Holly. I think it's a nice compromise since I was loving Polly. Holly works just perfectly! I think we'll be bringing her home on the 8th of February...that weekend anyways. I was hoping for next weekend but it sounds like the puppies are still nursing some and you want them to be fully weaned before you take them home. So we can wait. We have all the necessary puppy supplies at home now. I bought a grooming kit with clippers and a "how-to" DVD. I want to start clipping her myself right away so she's accustomed to it. I really don't want to have to pay for haircuts...so if we can avoid that cost, that would be so nice!

I haven't had much time to have my camera out lately. I really need to focus on that. It's so hard because I really can only take pictures of Carson and he's so GO GO GO all the time that it's hard to catch any good pictures lately. I guess it's really good practice for me and all but I just haven't had much time lately.

Carson is pretty much walking now. He still can't get to standing without pulling up on something so he does crawl a lot but if he can walk, he will. My mom and sister were out visiting for a bit last night and he was showing off for them. He really is a little ham. He knows that walking is a big deal and he's so proud of himself and so excited to show people. It's so neat! He's still going to bed around 7:00PM and waking up at 7:30ish in the morning. On the weekends if nobody else is up, he'll sleep until 8:00 or 8:30 sometimes. It's so fantastic to have such a great sleeper. I totally give credit to routine. I feel so lame sometimes telling people that we can't stay out late or not coming to things because we'd keep him out past his bedtime...but I think that's a big part of the reason he's such a good sleeper. We do keep him out every once in a while but that's definitely the exception to the rule!

We had our friends Erica and Brent over on Saturday night with their little daughter Gabs. We had enchiladas for dinner and I made some super yummy chip dip. It was one of those addictive type dips that once you started eating it, you couldn't stop. I plan to make it when we go over to my parents for the Superbowl! YUM! That way I can eat it again but I don't have it sitting in my fridge tempting me! Haha!

Work has been so incredibly busy. I haven't had much time to write. But, today is one of those Mondays that I can't throw myself into work quite yet. But I do need to get going. Talk to you all soon!

Movin On

Carson went to bed tonight without a "bed-time" bottle. *GASPS* He ate a ridiculous amount of food for dinner and I gave him a sippy with milk in it after dinner and then instead of a bottle, we just read books before bed and he laid down really with way less issues than I thought he would. He was a little pissed off but once he had his pacifier he was ok. That will be the next to go, but not quite yet. I'm hoping by 18months.

Dave bought me lights for Christmas. We picked them up last night since I'm doing some family photos for my friend Kate and then a co-worker of hers. I need a little practice before I can feel confident to take them with me. It's a little harder to coordinate than I thought it would be. Using studio lighting forces you to take the camera out of any pre-set or auto modes and do everything in manual. I know what the settings do for the most part but I've never had to rely only on myself to get them right! So I'm really going to learn my camera. I'm really glad. I took some pictures of Carson in the bath tonight...just to practice some of the other settings and I'm really proud of the progress I've made. Here is an example...

Here is a few bathroom shots that I took with pre-set settings on auto-mode with flash:

Yes, the water looks super cool but Carson looks like a ghost-baby! His natural skin-tones and colors are so washed out from the flash. This was taken in August.

Here is tonight's bath:

I love the 2nd picture...he was "yelling" at me but there's so much personality in his little face! They're not perfect or anything but I'm making definite progress. I love how I can really compare the differences. By the way, anyone notice how much skinnier Carson is getting? Haha, he's losing so much of that baby weight and looking so much like a little kid.

Dave's working late tonight which is a bummer. I'll be in bed long before he gets home. Hopefully that means this weekend he'll get some time off. Who knows, his job is so up and down that it's hard to count on anything most times. I know Dave doesn't like missing being home with Carson in the evenings.

In AWESOME news, my work just figured out where our new headquarters is going to be. It's an under-construction site so we won't be able to move in until 12/2008 so a whole FULL year but it's still exciting. We out-grew our first building and my department got moved to this horrible pit of a building and just knowing there's a light at the end of the tunnel is making it all worth it! Here's a link: NEW AWESOME BUILDING

Ok, before it gets too late I've gotta get some practicing in! Have a great night everyone!

Some Favorite Pictures

I finally got around to uploading some pictures from my camera. It's been almost a month since I've pulled any off. I think that's officially the longest I've gone! Here are a few of my favorites:

Dude I'm excited

My class at National Camera was FANTASTIC! It went over some pretty basic stuff which I already knew and really only touched on some of the more basic functions of the camera but those things I did NOT know and I feel like I've gained so much knowledge already! I have the more advanced class next week and I just can't wait now!

Here is my example of what I learned! I give you, my messy bathroom:There is plenty of light in the bathroom where you don't need to use a flash. Everything is in focus and nice and crisp. HOWEVER it's soooo yellow. I had this trouble when trying to take pictures of Carson in the bathtub. I didn't want to use flash because it washes his facial tones out so much but if I didn't, then everything looked so yellow. Ok, here's what I learned in class...a minor adjustment to the camera and:

Look at the difference!!! I'm standing in the same spot, it's the same stuff I just made an adjustment and look how much more "normal" and less yellow/orange it looks. The colors are truer to what they should be. Dang, now I'm excited to take pictures of Carson in the bath and see how those turn out!

Carson had his 1 year check up at the doctor yesterday. He's weighing in at 24lbs and he's 30 inches long. He's in the 50% percentile for both head circumference and for height. He's in the 70% percentile for weight. He's finally "evening" out. Haha, he's always been at about 50% for head and height but usually about 95% for weight. Now that he's moving around so much more, he's slimming out a bit. They say babies will triple their birth weight by their first birthday which he did exactly!

I took him to my work to visit after the doctors office. I was debating if I even should since he had FOUR shots and a finger prick. Poor baby. But he was a perfect little ham for everyone. He was smiling and flirting with all the ladies I work with. You gotta love that!

I read this review yesterday and now I'm even more excited for the movie Juno. One of these days, Dave and I will go see a movie in the theater! The problem is, we have very different ideas of what we should go see lately. Dave wanted to see Beowulf and I wanted to see Lars and the Real Girl. Not that either movie is superior to the other, it's just that we have very different taste and I sure as heck don't want to pay money, find a babysitter, and drag him to a movie that he doesn't really want to see in the first place. And vice versa.

We've recently re-started up our netflix membership. That way the movies come right here, granted we have to wait a little bit longer to see them, but oh well. At least we don't have to find a babysitter!

Well, Carson and I are going to see Santa today I think. Dave is working today. I will put up some pictures later!

Welcome to my Cube

Tee hee! A candid look at me at work! Haha, I found this on our "intranet". It was the day we had a carnival in our conference room...I was working instead of carnivaling it up. So here is a tour of half my desk. Yes, I have two computer monitors. It is wonderful and if they ever try and take the second one away it will be a sad, sad day. The black binders on the shelf are files for each of my doctors, basically their whole professional life is in the binder. There are 6 in the picture but I have since been handed one more. And yes, my desk is always this clean...I'm soooo not a fan of clutter!

This will probably be a short update...sorry I don't have a ton to say today! I have a camera class tonight at National Camera Exchange. I'm excited! It's an introduction to DSLRs (Digital SLR camera is what I have the SLR stands for single lens relfex(I think hahahah!)) Anyways, I'm taking a class tonight and then one next week, next week is supposed to be a little more advanced and into the technical settings I can make use of on the camera. I'm excited about that.

Dave and I were supposed to go to the Wild game last night. I haven't been feeling well all week so Dave took my sister instead. I haven't talked to her yet today but I think she had a good time...well I mean, how could you NOT enjoy it? It's a blast watching hockey at the Xcel. I went to bed early and today I'm finally feeling better. I have my voice back for the most part which is good...it's no fun when people can't understand you!

Carson has his one year check up tomorrow at the doctor. I know there will be shots on the agenda :( poor baby! I hate having him get shots. Hopefully it won't be bad. I'll have to ask the doctor about turning the car-seat around to face forward. I know you're supposed to wait a year but *should* you wait longer? Like just to be safe? I feel like I'll have such a big kid when he faces forward in the car. *tears*

Ok, I gotta get Carson fed before Dave comes home because I have to get going to the class right after that! Talk to you all soon and hopefully I will have some more updated photos soon!

Real Sudafed

I’m wondering if anybody knows how many times you’re allowed to buy “real” Sudafed before the police are at your door looking for a meth lab…? Haha. I bought a box the other day and I felt like the pharmacist was judging me. I can’t help it that I’m sniffly this time of year, and Sudafed happens to be one of the medications that works the best for me and doesn’t make me sleepy. If I take Benadryl, I’ll be out in about 15 minutes. That doesn’t make me a very good worker.

A rep from our builder was out at our house this morning. We got a letter as it approached 1 year in the house asking if anything needed to be fixed. We only had about 3 things to put on the list but sure enough, they came right out and took care of it. Our front door wouldn’t latch without the deadbolt being locked so now we can actually make use of our front door. That will be nice!

I can’t believe that Halloween is sneaking up on us. People keep asking if I’m going to take Carson trick-or-treating and I usually look at them like they’re insane. I’m not going to lug my heavy kid around and get candy that he can’t even eat and spend an evening he won’t remember. He’s just too little to get into it yet. I’ll most likely send him to daycare all dressed up because that’s fun but no trick-or-treating…I’m excited to hand out candy though. I’ve already got my stash!

My friend Erica came over last night with her little one. I can’t believe both Lydia and Gabs are 4 weeks old now! Time sure does fly. I lent her the swing that I had bought for Carson since they didn’t get one as a gift and gave her my most valuable paperwork on “preventing sleep problems”. I got it from my doctor when Carson was 4 weeks old and it gave me such good information on how to at least *start* a routine. It worked really well and Carson is an awesome sleeper so hopefully it will help them out too.

I’d like to try and set up a small photography studio in the basement. I’ve looked around and you can find a TON of props and backgrounds on Ebay. I have the good camera already, the only other thing I would really need is one of those umbrella flashes. My camera is equipped to hook up to one and I’ve read in my photography books that it can cost about $250.00. That’s really the most important piece. To get good lighting in the house, we have to be right near a window and it always looks like we’re taking pictures in the kitchen or living room. This would eliminate all of that and give me a chance to really practice. It’s something to save up for anyways. I also need a telephoto lens for the camera…another $250.00 GAH! But that’s one that can wait at least for a little bit.

Did I mention to anyone that my windshield wiper flew off my car the other day? It was pouring down rain and I was on 94 heading into work, you know driving like 70 and the passenger side windshield wiper just flew right off. I’m sure it like hit some car behind me or something. I called Dave, laughing so hard I was nearly crying and just kept driving into work. I had to keep using my wipers though because it was raining so now I’ve got some pretty nice scratches on that side of my windshield from the metal arm that holds the wiper on. I had to wrap a paper-towel around the metal arm and then rubber band one of Carson’s socks over it to keep it from scratching my windshield until I can get into the store to buy a new one. And of course, every time I run into Target I totally forget. So that’s my story. Haha!

Suzie Homemaker

Dave and I have been watching that documentary by Ken Burns The War OMG is it awesome!? It's 7 "episodes" each lasting 2 to 2 1/2 hours long. It's so hard to start watching one and not finish. It's just been fascinating. We DVRd them so we can watch when we want since most have been on during prime time and we can't skip The Office! But I've really enjoyed watching and it really gives me a greater appreciation for history in general. It's very well done and highly recommended.

We had a great time at Jack's birthday party on Sunday!! Hopefully Jack enjoyed it too. Neil made an awesome cake...it was a big hit. Angie, I have more pictures for you and will email them. The pictures of the cake turned out great!I used my awesome food processor this weekend. That thing rocks so hard it’s not even funny. I sliced a cucumber and seriously it made the thinnest awesomest slices ever. It was almost ridiculous because the one cucumber made like 1,000 slices but they still tasted fantastic and the cucumber lasted a little longer than it normally does. Usually Dave and I can whip through a cucumber in about 10 minutes. Haha!

I also used the processor for mashing bananas to make some banana bread. I haven’t made bread in YEARS and I was a little nervous but it turned out really good. I had 4 bananas and only used 2 for the one loaf so I made another to send home with my mom. I hope that one turned out as good as ours. Funny story, the “best if used by” date on my baking powder was 3/2001 hahahahahahaha. I can’t believe I still have that. I guess I’m going to have to buy some more. I think I noticed only a little issue using it, the 2nd loaf of bread didn’t rise as much but the first did just fine so I’m not sure if the baking powder is to blame or not. I also made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies this weekend (wow I sound like a Suzie Homemaker!) the last batch I made I decided that using Country Crock instead of butter or shortening wouldn’t make *that* much of a difference. OMG it makes a difference. Haha. The first batch tasted just fine but the cookies were really like flimsy almost and then the batch I made this weekend were perfection! Yeah Baby…no more Country Crock! Well, except for on a slice of banana bread…Heavenly!

My friend Kate used one of the pictures that I took of Lydia for her Thank-you cards! How awesome is that!? Totally exciting. I’m a little bummed with the fall colors so far this year…I was hoping to get out and take some pictures but I haven’t seen anything worth taking. The dull brown/yellow just doesn’t do it for me. We’re going up to the cabin this weekend to watch the Vikings game with my parents so maybe there will be some good picture opportunities there.

And just thought I should mention that HELLS YEAH the Wild are 2-0. I'll leave you you with a few pics of Carson!