Howdy Howdy everybody! I feel like we have been going at a hundred miles a minute but....here is what has happened lately. The city finished the sidewalk and fixed our driveway...though they have yet to come pick up their signs. This past weekend we went to Curtis Orchard b/c they are OPEN! Oh yes the apple doughnut, pie and slushy goooodneeessss! We did some more landscaping! Bought another butterfly bush, some eenie weenie lilies, more sage, cat mint, two kinds of lavender, and a purple thing. I think that is it, and again Brent helped plant some of it! My glads are just now starting to bloom, and they are preetty! This weekend we also went to dinner with Grandma Vicki and Uncle Chris, Texas Roadhouse, it had been a while since we had been. We also got Makenna a swing set this weekend, it was free, someone was trying to get rid of it. I haven't taken a picture of it yet.

We are getting excited about next week, as the roof should be started! Thursday we are going to Chicago to celebrate our fifth anniversary, we are taking the train up. Then Friday we return and Brent's parents are coming into town. Actually I'm not sure whether one or both are but anyhow...and I think Chris and his wife are staying here too....then Sunday we are going to the West reunion. Whew.

New pictures are up at Shutterfly (follow the link to the right) AND as a treat new videos are up on the video page too! (Also follow the video page link)

Yay Yay Yay

Yesterday we got a call from Country Carpentry about the roof! So we now have a start date! Actually they wanted to start this morning BUT the city poured new sidewalks yesterday in front of the house, thous blocking the driveway. So August 6th is our start date! The week after next! We've felt like we have accomplished a lot this summer and still plan on resealing the driveway and doing some more exterior painting (once it starts cooling down a little bit)! And I probably do more landscaping....hahhahhaha. Then this winter we are planning on working on the laundry room. Insulating, drywalling, running water, 220, drain, vent and all that. We may also also carpet the house this winter as well, we've been looking at samples and such. If that doesn't keep us busy, haha, there is the woodwork to stain in the wood room, the paper plique treatment to do on the walls and the wood floors to finish, not to mention the popcorn ceiling (don't get me started!). So all is going well!

Knot Cute

We are back! We had a really nice time on our trip to Niagara Falls and Ottawa.

On the way up there we stayed the night after arriving at Niagara Falls. On the way to the falls we stopped at Lake Eerie, actually we had breakfast the Bob Evans there and decided why not. Makenna really enjoyed seeing the lake. At Niagara Falls, we stayed at a hotel built in the 1920's, it was really nice. We checked out the falls, took lots of pictures and got a little bit wet. After walking around the down town area for a while we went back to our hotel and had to ride the crazy elevator that had a mind of its own. Once in our room we checked out the view, that was wonderful and of coarse ordered pizza, haha, and it was GOOOOD! The fireworks started at about 9:30 and was a show to see, and free! The next morning we were out searching for some breakfast and decided to go to some Alien cafe, shaped like a flying saucer. It seemed interesting.... After breakfast we thought about going to the aquarium or going back to the falls but Makenna was about to take a nap and it was starting to rain so....

On to Ottawa! We started towards Ottawa and came back into the US b/c gas is cheaper here and Ontario drivers are plain CRAZY! After a few stops and food we arrived in Ottawa at the Novotel hotel. I can't remember what we had that night for dinner....the next morning though we went to the huge farmers market they had and stopped at a market cafe. By that time it was like 11 so Brent had a sandwich and I got the special of the day. Spinach quiche with Beef Vegetable soup (the best soup I have ever had!), it was really good. After that we had a tarte and Brent had white chocolate chip cookie. We did lots of swimming at the hotel pool and Makenna liked the hot tub. We had many meals at the hotels restaurant Cafe Nicole, they had wonderful food and an excellent breakfast buffet every morning. We also went to a restaurant called the foundation, because it is in a basement, and had some fondue for two, extremely good! After all was said and done we came home a little earlier than we thought but it was because the last two days we were there it rain, a lot. On those days we would just mosey to the mall, less than a block away. We never managed to walk to bridge over to Quebec b/c of the rain but before we left we did drive over it. Oh, and it was FREEZING. On to home....

We left Ottawa at 11am on Friday and arrived home at 6am on Saturday, driving straight through, I'll tell ya not a drive I care to do again. It was better on the way there b/c we stopped part way. On the way home we passed a little boat and I mentioned to Brent that awww, that was a cute boat...we start to pass it and read the name of the boat KNOT CUTE....haha, we got a kick out of it. Also while waiting in line for customs we pulled up to a lady traveling with two cats, one laying on the dash and the other hanging part way out her window, a sight to see. Anyway, we arrived home and then went to breakfast with lots of family b/c they were at our house visiting. We met mom and Chris at the Pancake house and then everyone came back here for some more social time. Luckily we did a little bit of picking up before we left (as far as we knew our company was arriving on Sunday, but plans changed while we were in Canada and everyone arrived Thursday)! So Sunday we had a family get together and more family came into town to have some burgers and more grub. Makenna got to play with the twins who are 19 months, they were more interested in her than vice versa. Today all the company has left and everything is back to normal, we had a wonderful time with everyone that came!

New pictures are posted at Shutterfly...the link is to the right on this page. Enjoy, we took lots of pictures!

Oh, I almost forgot! At one of the rest stops....Makenna learned to crawl! So she is now very mobile, she's still a little slow at it but also now likes to pulls herself up on things and cruise!

Aren't you lucky.....

You get two posts in one week! I totally forgot to mention that we leave for Ottawa on Saturday! We are scrambling to get stuff done before we go! Today we are going to get our passports out of the safe deposit box. We are mostly packed and have been picking up the house so we won't have to do it the day we get home. We will have family in town and gathering here the day after we get back, so better to do it now. We've book a room in Niagara Falls with floor to ceiling windows and a balcony with a hot tub...yep we went all out, we should have a great view of the fireworks! In Ottawa we are staying at a "European" hotel called the novotel. We'll take lots of pictures while we are gone!

This concrete smells like a fart!

Greetings everyone! This past weekend we did some do it yourselfing!

Friday Brent took the afternoon off work and we drove to Tuscola to do some outlet shopping! We were looking for a new pair of tennis shoes for Brent, and we found a pair! I found a cute pair of jeans and then we went to the local Monicals for dinner.

I think we may have also gone to Lowes this day to buy a replacement phlox b/c one of mine never started to grow. 4 Lilies, 1 phlox, 1 salvia, 1 russian sage and a balloon flower later...we left Lowes. Yeah I know I'm bad, hahahha. Brent even helped me plant them all, digging all the holes for me!

Sunday morning we went to church and then headed over to Grandma Vicki's to see what they were doing for lunch! We decided to go to Chili's!

Makenna is doing great, this week we lowered her crib and her pack and play. Brent taught her how to jump up and down standing up in her crib....and then she found out how to get to standing position by herself in the crib, not good. So we lowered everything!

Happy 4th!

Hope everyone had a nice 4th of July holiday! We really enjoyed ours here in Champaign! We got all cleaned up and then went to homer de po to get a new hedge trimmer b/c they were on sale and the one we have is from the 50s. After Home Depot we went and fed the geese at the Lowe's pond! In the afternoon we went to the parade with Mom and Chris. We had some lovely lemon shake-ups and funnel cake! Yummmm, afterwards we picked up some fried chicken (yeah I know I cheated)! After eating everyone took a nap b/c...we could! Around 7:30 we headed out to Parkland to get all set up to see the fireworks!

Makenna is doing great, she has her two teeth and can now say ma ma, as well as high five. She did surprisingly well yesterday..usually she goes to bed at 8 but stayed up til 10 to see the fireworks. No crying or anything from the fireworks she just watched them!

Next weekend we leave for Ottawa! It will be nice to get a vacation...seems like we haven't taken one in a while. We'll be stopping part way to see the Niagra Falls, since I've never been and Brent has been once before. We found a nice older hotel with a great view so hopefully we will enjoy that! It will also be Makenna's first trip out of the country!

Well, Happy Thursday!

New pictures are up at Shutterfly!