The Murrays' Musings

Expecting...

2011-10-25T21:16:00.000-05:00

...a baby on May 14th! We are excited and looking forward to sleepless nights again! LOL! We did a family photo shoot with Sarah Franczyk from Franczyk Photography a few weeks ago and took a couple to announce our news to everyone.

Visit with Carolyn and Natalie

2011-07-09T22:58:00.000-05:00

Ava and I met my friend Carolyn and her new baby, Natalie for lunch today while we were up north visiting Jamie's brother Aaron and his wife Darcy in Minnesota. Natalie was born in May and she's just the sweetest baby...it was so fun to see them and meet her! We met for lunch at Friday's and were able to catch up for an hour or so with the girls. I generally don't order Ava her own kid's meal because I never know what she's going to eat but today decided to get her the grilled chicken tenders on pita bread with a side of fruit. She literally ate like 3 bites of pita bread and nothing else except the cup of milk it came with (except for a handful of my french fries). Really glad I paid $4 for that.

Ava's Words

2011-06-03T23:30:00.000-05:00

Ava is talking up a storm lately! She says all kinds of things and is repeating and imitating all the time now too. Some of her favorites: "dog" (she constantly points at dogs and says "dog" and "woof woof" over and over...plus the woof woof she uses her whole body to say it), "HI!", "Buh-bye", "Uh-oh". She points to her own nose, mouth, eyes, ears, etc and to ours now as well and says those things....nose sounds like no with a cute inflection in her voice. I asked her to say belly button yesterday and she did pretty good with that one, surprisingly, since there are quite a few syllables! She knows that dogs say "woof woof", ducks say "cack cack" and cats say "meow" (kind of). She tries to say Bella sometimes and dada/daddy sounds like a lot of different things. Her favorite expression is "that guy" (that's what it sounds like she's saying at least) and I think it means what's that or something along those lines because she often points while saying it. She repeated "stinker" after me the other day (guess we're really going to start having to watch what we say!) I'll have to get some of these on video soon and post them because the way she says things really is adorable!

Val's Wedding

2011-05-17T20:59:00.000-05:00

One of my very best friends from college, Val, got married the first weekend in May. We flew to Leesburg, Virginia for the wedding on Thursday and stayed until Sunday. Friday, I went to go get manis and pedis with Val's mom, sisters, and soon to be mother-in-law and we had a great time. Friday evening was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner and Saturday was the wedding. She was a beautiful bride and I'm so happy her her and her new husband, AJ, as they begin their lives together!

Visit with Becca, Delaney, and Geoff

2011-05-09T22:52:00.000-05:00

The Girls

Ava

Delaney

Becca, Geoff, and Delaney came to Des Moines to visit us again in April. Becca and I have a scrapbooking weekend normally once a year here in Des Moines. They came to town on Friday night and we scrapbooked all day (9am-midnight) on Saturday while the boys watched the little girls. On Sunday, we went to church, went out to lunch at Felix and Oscars (one of Jamie's favorite places to eat at when he used to work at the Merle Hay Cinema in high school) and got delicious pizza, and then went to the mall and walked around in the afternoon. We were glad they decided to stay Sunday night as well so we could have the day to hang out, especially since they are moving to Cleveland soon. :( We will have to find a new location for our yearly scrapbooking weekends!

Random Ava-April

2011-04-21T22:37:00.002-05:00

Carolyn's Baby Shower 4-2-11

2011-04-21T20:23:00.000-05:00

2011-03-08T15:50:00.000-06:00

Here's a video of Ava eating yogurt by herself...I love how she was holding the container in one hand and her spoon in the other.

2011-03-08T15:11:00.000-06:00

Here's a couple pictures I took of Ava the other day. She's getting sooo close to walking, just a little nervous about it I think. She did take one step on her own last week but I'm not counting it yet.

A look at Christmas

2011-01-28T17:08:00.000-06:00

I never posted these from Christmas so I figured I'd post them now.

Family Photo Shoot-Franczyk Photography

2011-01-22T21:28:00.002-06:00

Winter Cleaning

2011-01-15T23:50:00.000-06:00

I had the day off today and we had scheduled a basement cleaning day with our friends Bryan and Manda. Luckily for us, Manda enjoys organizing and helping others throw things away. Jamie ended up with the stomach flu during the night last night so he was out of commission for today but they still came over and helped me for a couple hours during Ava's nap (which I may add was 3.5+ hours...poor girl has a cold again).

I didn't realize how many empty boxes I had actually saved until we started pulling them out and Bryan started breaking them down. I'm definitely a "saver" but I've been in a mood lately to want to purge and get rid of things. I have some "after" pictures (no before pictures, sorry) but if you had seen the space we cleared and organized before, you would be impressed. You really couldn't even walk into the space before we started.

The space we cleaned "after"

Organized stack of boxes

The only empty boxes left that I'm keeping...literally got rid of probably 30 boxes

Pile started to go to Goodwill

The basement is no where near finished but we definitely got a good start! Thanks to Bryan and Manda!

Next project: The bedroom closet

Ava's Language

2011-01-06T23:38:00.000-06:00

This is what Ava does all day...hence the chattering at daycare during naptime.

Ava's daycare

2011-01-06T11:38:00.000-06:00

At Ava's daycare, they send home a daily sheet everyday saying what they ate that day, what they played with, nap times, etc. On yesterday's sheet it said, "Ava is hilarious during nap time! She is the only one who is awake today and she is just chatting away with us. We know she's supposed to be calming down but it's so cute and funny!" Who would have thought our daughter would be the chatterbox at daycare!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T17:38:00.000-06:00

It's a new year and of course it's time for resolutions and writing 2010 for the next 2 months. I'm going to try to be more organized in the coming year and get a new planner that I can just refill every year. Also I want to de-clutter and simplify our life a little more by cleaning out closets and the basement and getting rid of some of the extra "stuff" in our life. I want to teach Ava more sign language so she can better communicate with us too. And of course the obligatory "I want to lose weight" resolution. I always want to do that...wish I had more time to work out, I really do enjoy it once I start getting back into the habit of exercising. We're hoping to get a treadmill sometime in the future but are looking for a deal on a used one (since they generally don't get much use we figure a used one is almost as good as a $500 new one).

I'm also hoping for some things in 2011, some of which include:
1. The townhouse selling
2. Getting our financial situation back on track
3. Figuring out where the Lord wants us and if my plans align with His for our future

Here's to 2011!

Christmas Projects

2010-12-18T23:53:00.010-06:00

My sister came to visit right before Christmas and we worked on a Christmas project to give as gifts to some people. They're magnets made from colorful papers and small glass beads. I also made dipped pretzels for Ava's daycare teachers.

Christmas Card 2010

2010-12-16T17:48:00.001-06:00

Merry Montage Christmas

Make a statement with personalized Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Halloween

2010-10-31T22:56:00.009-05:00

Mom with Ava

Grammy Pammy with Ava

Trying to pull off her wings

Ava as Tinkerbell

There she goes...

Even though we didn't go trick or treating this year, we still had fun dressing Ava up as Tinkerbell

Ava's 1st Birthday Party

2010-10-06T06:29:00.015-05:00

Ava's Yum Dance!

2010-10-05T23:14:00.003-05:00

Ava's Yum Dance

Ava's One Year and Family Photo Shoot-August

2010-09-26T22:22:00.022-05:00

Ava 7/25/10 11 months 2 days old

2010-07-25T23:21:00.010-05:00

A few black and whites from Ava's photo shoot today:

And a few others:

This is Ava's new crazy face

Finally a smile!

Cool girl

2010-07-16T21:40:00.002-05:00

I took this video about a month ago one night when I was feeding Ava. She was so tired she could barely stay awake while eating! I ended up leaving her in her high chair for about 15 minutes and then finally put her to bed.

Homemade Baby Food

2010-07-06T22:33:00.009-05:00

I've decided to make some of Ava's baby food. I've bought a couple books and have enjoyed reading how I can make her food healthier than just giving her jarred food. Don't get me wrong, I'm still giving her jars of some things because there is just not enough time in the day to do what I really want to do. So far, I've made sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, broccoli, peaches, apples, and apricots that I've frozen and then also given her fresh banana, avocado, and blueberries.

Copper Creek Triathlon

2010-07-06T22:00:00.019-05:00

Ava is the new mascot for Team Powerbar

She loves her proten bars...mmm

Ava's first Triathlon...Copper Creek on June 6th

Mom and Mandy

Ava "I'm tired...."

Colin getting out of the water heading to transition

Coming back from the bike

And now the run...

Sleepy Girl

Ava and Aunt Mandy

Jamie, Rachel, and Ava

Ava and Grammy Pammy

Colin's Triathlons June 2010

2010-07-02T11:46:00.012-05:00

May 2010

2010-05-25T22:43:00.013-05:00

The fam at graduation

Aunt Mandy and Ava

Moving Colin out of his house after graduation

She likes her new present

A gift from my Uncle Wayne and Aunt Barb for Ava

Getting ready to go to the farmer's market with mom, on a chilly day

Ava meeting her great-grandma for the first time

"This is my sparkly clubbin' outfit"

Post-bath mohawk

April 2010

2010-05-10T22:08:00.009-05:00

Hangin' with my Aunt Darcy

Sleepy Girl

Trying to eat my bib

Eating some sweet potatoes

Snuggling my Uncle Aaron

Easter 2010

2010-04-11T23:48:00.006-05:00

2010-04-11T22:59:00.003-05:00

Ava eating rice cereal for the first time

February/March 2010

2010-04-04T18:06:00.010-05:00

Valentine's Day

Hangin' out in my bumbo

Sleeping with my lovie

When I was sick and had to use albuterol nebulizer

This is what happens when my dad dresses me

February 9, 2010

2010-02-09T22:38:00.004-06:00

She wasn't really that upset...it was more of a transitional face after the flash went off...it was funny none the less.

Ava is starting to smile and coo a lot more these days. Here's a video of her today.

Super Bowl Sunday

2010-02-09T22:30:00.005-06:00

Ava was really disappointed to learn that not only did the Bears not win the Super Bowl, they weren't in fact playing.

January 2010

2010-02-09T16:14:00.010-06:00

Ava Update

2010-02-09T16:04:00.002-06:00

Ava went to the doctor last week and is now up to 12 pounds 7.5 ounces. She's still growing like a weed and we're excited about that. She hasn't had any breathing spells since New Year's Eve and since then was started on a second medication for reflux, Prevacid, along with her Zantac to control it better. We no longer go to the eye doctor every month as she has been cleared until August for her retinopathy issues. We're also hopefully done seeing the kidney doctor for awhile. She saw him last week and he wanted to do an echocardiogram (which we had done today) before he stopped her amlodipine (blood pressure medication). We're hoping we're done with that as it will be one less medicine to give her everyday and taking her blood pressure in the evenings has become more difficult as she's gotten older. The ENT doc also didn't want to see her again til this summer which is nice since all these "specialists" cost us $45 a pop each time we go. Medicaid (which she was on in the hospital because she was low birth weight and up til February 1st) picked up the copays up til now.

Ava is smiling up a storm these days, although it's hard to tell from some of the pictures because she usually blinks or stops smiling when I try to take pictures. She's also starting to make more noises and cooing on her own and in response to us. Last week she started noticing when we would leave the room and start to fuss a little, as if she were saying, "why did you leave me in here by myself?? Where'd you go mom?" She's beginning to grab at objects and bat at toys on her playmat more. She's also found her hands and puts them in her mouth every chance she gets. It's amazing to see how far she has come and everyday and week seems to bring a new milestone for her.

January 10th, 2010

2010-01-10T12:05:00.006-06:00

Ava and her playmat

2010-01-08T12:05:00.006-06:00

Happily playing...

...And then fast asleep

Christmas Eve

2010-01-07T23:22:00.002-06:00

Ava at Christmas '09

2010-01-07T22:22:00.005-06:00

Our little grunter

Ava Hope Murray

2009-09-08T22:16:00.010-05:00

Ava Hope Murray was born August 23rd, 2009 at 27 weeks. She weighed 1 lb 12 oz and was 13 3/4 inches long. See http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/avamurray for updates on how she is doing.

Naperville Triathlon

2009-08-11T15:48:00.002-05:00

Congrats to my brother Colin for finishing 2nd out of about 2200 over the weekend at the Naperville Triathlon! What a rockstar! Three more weeks til Chicago Tri!

Alicia and Enoch

2009-08-08T16:01:00.001-05:00

Alicia and Enoch
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

I did an engagement shoot with my friends Alicia and Enoch. They were a blast to shoot. They even hopped in the fountain! Check out the rest here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamie_murray/sets/72157621857717045/

24 weeks

2009-08-03T22:34:00.003-05:00

Here I am at 24 weeks preggo!

It's a......

2009-08-02T20:52:00.005-05:00

GIRL!!!!

Baby Murray

2009-07-19T20:17:00.002-05:00

I know a lot of people are wondering if we're finding out what we're having and we are. I'm 22 weeks today and go to the doctor this Thursday for the big ultrasound (finaly...I've been waiting weeks for it!) At my 18 week appt she said it'd be another month and I about wanted to strangle her when she said that because that meant I had to be patient for another 4 weeks. But I made it and it will be this Thursday. So I'll be sure to post the big news once we find out. We won't be telling any names, so don't ask! :)

20 weeks pregnant

2009-07-15T22:11:00.001-05:00

I'll be 22 weeks this Sunday but here is my 20 week preggo picture.

Aaron and Darcy

2009-06-27T00:43:00.001-05:00

Aaron and Darcy
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

Here is one of Aaron and Darcy's engagement photos.

Bella's Injury

2009-06-23T23:04:00.004-05:00

We went to Chicago this weekend for a wedding and a friend of ours was watching Bella for us. He called on our drive home tonight and said she had gotten a cute on her paw and he was going to bring her back to our house so she was here when we got home. When we arrived poor little Bella was limping around on 3 legs instead of 4 and when I got a good look at her cut, realized it was pretty deep. Jamie called the after hours vet clinic and the lady on the phone said it might be a good idea to bring her in to prevent infection. So at about 8:00 we drove across town and took her in to the emergency 24 hour vet clinic. We waited a little bit and finally saw the veterinarian and she said she probably needed stitches. They took her back and we waited in the waiting room for about 45 minutes. They brought her back out to us pretty groggy and out of it (they had to sedate her) with a big cone on her head and a little doggy cast on her little leg! She looked so sad and pathetic! She has to take an antibiotic and they gave her some pain medication and no running, jumping, or playing with other dogs (sorry J.J. no playing this weekend!) until she gets her sutures out (10-14 days). Here are a few pictures of our poor little girl!

Colbie Caillat Concert

2009-06-16T21:53:00.007-05:00

Last night we saw Colbie Caillat in concert in Des Moines. She was playing at the Simon Estes Ampitheater downtown which is an outdoor theater right down by the river. There was a threat of rain and we were a little worried it would just start pouring in the middle of the show, but the rain held off til later in the evening. A guy named Jason Reeves opened for her and he was pretty decent. Apparently is from Iowa City but very good friends with Colbie Caillat. I had stopped at Palmer's Deli on the way home from work to grab some dinner to eat at the concert. We had an amusing time people watching as we waited for the show to start. There were many teenage girls there and after Jason Reeves played they all wanted his autograph. It was kind of a hilarious time. Colbie put on a great show and we had a really good time. The venue was perfect for her and her type of music too.

Copper Creek Triathlon

2009-06-16T21:03:00.009-05:00

Colin and my mom came to town over the weekend for the 2nd 1st annual (it got rained out last year) Copper Creek Triathlon. I had told Col about it a few months ago and wasn't sure if he'd be interested because the big HyVee Triathlon is in a couple weeks and he was already planning on do that one in Des Moines, but he decided to sign up for it. The total prize purse was pretty enticing...about $5000 divided among the top 3 men and women. So he had a goal: top 3. But we had no idea what the competition would be like. This was a sprint triathlon so it was a shorter distance than some (not an Olympic lenght or a half Ironman like he's done a few of recently): 750m swim, 20k bike, and 5k run.

The race started at 8am so we headed over to Pleasant Hill around 6:30am so he could get his bike set up and warm up a little. There ended up being a lot of fog that morning so they delayed the race by about 15-20 minutes. Colin was in the first heat of athletes to start so we watched them start the swim then walked over to near where they would exit the water so we could see what place he was out of the water (you can't tell who is who in the water anyhow because there are so many of them). He ended up being 8th out of the water and we ran over to the transition area to see him get on his bike. I guess he passed a couple people in transition but ended up being passed while biking so came back 8th to start the run. The funny thing was the first guy in on his bike was ahead of all the other athletes by a good 4 minutes. We were wondering where everyone else was? After Colin left transition to go run, we walked over to the lake where the finish line was and were looking for him across the lake. They had to run up a road into the neighborhood and then back down again and then go around the lake to finish. The guy who had the lead still had the lead and won with a time of 56:05. We kept watching for Colin (usually we can tell which one he is by his stride and his outfit but this time we couldn't). We finally saw him come up the home stretch in 6th place! He had passed 2 people on the run which was really good. We stayed around awhile after that for the awards ceremony at 11:00 and he ended up finishing first in his age group (20-24) although technically he was second since one of the guys who finished top 3 was 24 yo. But he got to stand on the podium stand so that was pretty cool! Colin's time ended up being 1:00:55 and we had found out later that the guy who won who was ahead of everyone else was also a professional triathlete so that made a little more sense. Maybe next year!

Colin before the race

Getting out of the water (8th)

Getting on the bike in transition

Rachel, Colin, and Mom

Getting his award for first place in his age group

Baby Bump 17 weeks

2009-06-14T23:17:00.002-05:00

Do I look pregnant yet?

Tree in the Street?

2009-05-13T21:35:00.004-05:00

So I was driving home from work today, headed down my street. At the corner where I usually turn there is a white van sitting there jutted out in the middle of the intersection. I'm thinking to myself, what is that moron doing there half out in the street where I need to turn? I get a little closer about ready to turn right and what do I see in front of me?? The neighbor's 50 foot tree in the middle of the road. Quite the sight! Actually I've never seen anything quite like it before in my life. Jamie, along with the whole neighborhood were standing outside staring at this giant arboreal monstrosity. We knew this day would come at some point, didn't think it would happen this soon but it did. This tree had been rotting out, you could visibly see it near the top, but apparently it was also rotting out at the base too. And today was its last day standing.

Our Baby's First Pictures!

2009-05-07T22:55:00.005-05:00

First Anniversary 3/29/09

2009-05-07T22:35:00.005-05:00

For our first anniversary, we took a long weekend trip to downtown Chicago. We took the train in and stayed at the Sofitel Hotel Friday and Saturday nights. On Friday, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry and spent the afternoon watching chicks hatch, learning about genes, and being disappointed that the Crime Lab was closed (the only thing that Jamie really wanted to see that day). Friday night we had dinner at McCormick and Schmick's seafood restaurant which was conveniently located across the street from our hotel. When he called to make a reservation, they asked if we were celebrating anything and he said our anniversary. When we arrived, they had a little notecard wishing us a happy anniversary and our menu had been specially printed for us wishing us happy anniversary. Definitely a nice touch (and something fun to put in the scrapbook). The food was really good and so was the dessert.On Saturday, we were thinking about going to the Art Institute but decided to save a little money so we ended up hanging out at Border's in the afternoon, people watching and reading magazines. Plus the weather was pretty cold and windy and rainy and we didn't feel like being outside, even to travel in between. Saturday evening we had gotten tickets to go see Second City, the improv group in Chicago where greats like Steve Martin, John Belushi, Bill Murray, etc. got their start. The skits were good and we had a good time. So by this point, we knew I was pregnant (!!) and I ordered a couple virgin drinks...pina colada, strawberry daiquiri and the second one I ordered ended up having alcohol in it. I asked our server about it (after he had brought us our bill and charged us for an alcoholic one) and he took it back and brought me a new one. I was a little surprised that he still charged us for it (especially after I told him I was pregnant) but oh well.
We also decided to try on the hotel's bathrobes since we were staying at a fancy hotel (it's apparently ranked #95 in the world for luxury hotels). This isn't something we normally do. =) And on Sunday we had to come home =( Happy First Anniversary!

Positive!

2009-05-07T22:24:00.005-05:00

Windmill

2009-04-20T23:52:00.001-05:00

Windmill
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

We stopped on the way home from visiting Aaron in Minneapolis to take some pictures. Here's the first one I've processed....more to follow. I promise.

American Idol 3

2009-04-15T20:23:00.003-05:00

Haven't posted in awhile who we think will be the bottom 3:

1. Lil Round

2. Anoop Desai

3. Matt Giraud

Our favorite this week: Kris Allen! Jamie has already listened to his song "Falling Slowly" from the Once Soundtrack about 100 times on repeat. :)

Painting the Kitchen

2009-03-22T22:24:00.005-05:00

We painted our kitchen last weekend. There was definitely a debate over the color choice but we ended up compromising on Coriander by Martha Stewart, a lovely shade of yellow. Jamie's original choice was lime green which I initially thought I would like as well but then we realized when we went to the paint store that we actually had differing opinions of what "lime green" actually is. I ended up going back later and picked up about 50 paint samples in various shades of yellow, orange, and green. We finally decided on yellow and bought a few mini sample cans at Lowe's to test on our walls. We painted the 4 we had chosen in 3 different places on our kitchen walls (to see what they would look like in the various lights) and then numbered the cans and the wall samples to decide which we liked the best. It's amazing what a coat of paint can do to freshen things up and just make everything look cleaner. We also repainted the trim in the kitchen to touch it up as well.

American Idol 2

2009-03-18T19:58:00.001-05:00

Our predictions this week for who will go home on American Idol:

1. Alexis Grace OR

2. Scott MacIntyre

Home Improvement Projects

2009-03-18T19:43:00.002-05:00

We've been making a list of home improvement projects over the last couple months and I finally wrote them all down the other day so we make sure we get them all done. These are projects to get done in the next couple months as well as in the longer term (since who knows how long we'll be living here with my house not selling...)

1. Paint kitchen and nook
2. Replace and hang light fixture by back door
3. Replace fans in living and dining rooms
4. Replace fan in nook with light fixture and fan in guest bedroom with new fan
5. Get new outside doors and install
6. Fix quarter round on wood floors
7. Replace outside deck/patio
8. Rebuild outside stone wall holding back flower bed
9. Paint downstairs bedroom
10. Replace light fixture in both bathrooms
11. Fix upstairs shower
12. Landscape outside

Rogue

2009-03-18T19:36:00.004-05:00

We finally decided to break down and get a new car. My Altima was struggling as of late and I've been wanting a Nissan Murano or Rogue for some time, so two weeks ago we went to the Nissan dealer in Des Moines and decided to lease a Rogue. It was a much better experience than the last time we went to a car dealer. Two years ago, I considered getting a Murano but the car salesman was awful and put SOOO much pressure on us to buy. We left upset with him and the dealer which is unfortunate since we've bought a lot of Nissan cars over the years. Our new Rogue is a 4 cylinder, all wheel drive, crossover SUV. Color=Gotham Gray, it's like the batmobile. :)

American Idol

2009-03-11T19:45:00.002-05:00

So Jamie and I have been pretty faithful about watching American Idol this season. From the very beginning, our favorite has been Danny Gokey! We think he's pretty awesome and would probably buy any cd he came out with. A couple of our other most recent favorites have been Megan Corkrey, Anoop Desai, and Casey Carlson (but only because Jamie (along with apparently many other people) thinks she's cute). Our votes for who's going home tonight: Jasmine Murray (cousin Jasmine) and Michael Sarver.

Day 35

2009-03-04T21:15:00.001-06:00

Day 35
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

Perhaps the most beautiful picture I've taken...my schmoopy. :)

Day 34

2009-03-04T20:37:00.002-06:00

Day 34
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

Here are some Bella foot prints.

Day 33

2009-03-04T20:18:00.001-06:00

Day 33
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

I'll catch up eventually...I'm only like 30 days behind!

Mom's Birthday

2009-03-01T16:33:00.007-06:00

I went home a few weeks ago to celebrate my mom's birthday. We spent the day shopping and then went out to dinner at the DOC wine bar in Lombard. We came back home afterward and opened presents and she finally got her Wii Fit (boy was that hard to find)! Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Wii Party

2009-02-28T23:57:00.002-06:00

So we went to a Wii party tonight with our Sunday School class. We started going to the Young Marrieds class at Johnston E Free Church in January and so far we like it pretty well. We're trying to meet and get to know some more people so we decided to go to the Wii party. It was at the home of our Sunday School leaders, a couple from church, and they had 4 Wii's set up in the house. There was even a bracket someone made to figure out how the tournament would work. Unfortunately, we arrived a little late (30 minutes) because I took a nap this afternoon and didn't start to make the treat I was making (Oreo balls) until 5:30. I didn't remember that they had to sit in the freezer for an hour to get hard or that it would actually take us 20 minutes to drive to their house. I am such a poor time planner sometimes. I don't intentionally do it, I just don't think about how long some things take. Anyhow, we got there at 7 instead of 6:30 but everyone loved the Oreo balls so that was good. And Jamie did pretty well at the Wii tournament. I won my first game, but lost the next two so I was out. He won all his games except the semi-final game which was bowling and then lost. Guess he needs to practice that at my mom's house on her Wii the next time we go there. We hope they liked us and want to be our friends!

Valentine's Day dinner

2009-02-19T22:49:00.008-06:00

Jamie and I had a few of our friends over for Valentine's Day last weekend. We figured it would be more fun and a way to beat the crowds on a Saturday night. The menu included Cheese Soup, Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Asparagus with almonds, Potatoes Duchess and our friend Manda made a frozen Chocolate Mousse dessert. It was all very yummy. I have to give major kudos to my hubby for making most of the meal. He took a French cooking class a few years ago and made pretty much everything from recipes from his class. I was the kitchen helper and did what I was told to do. =) It turned out really great...he can cook for me anytime! We ate dinner and then afterward played the game "Would You Rather?" It was pretty entertaining and definitely had its share of hilarious moments. The best part came at the end of the game when I had to do a "challenge" and pick from one of the choices on the card. The other players had to pick one person for me to exchange socks with til the end of the game. So our friend Joe was the lucky one to switch socks with me! He had to put on my cute Valentine's socks with the X's and O's on them. Luckily, everyone had to go shortly after and I only had to wear his socks for a short period of time!

Day 32

2009-02-18T00:11:00.001-06:00

Day 32
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

This one is a bridge and birds. Really mixing it up.

Day 31

2009-02-18T00:10:00.003-06:00

Day 31
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

Yet another bridge...

Day 30

2009-02-18T00:10:00.001-06:00

Day 30
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

It's a railroad bridge...I know, exciting....

Day 29

2009-02-18T00:08:00.001-06:00

Day 29
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

This is where Bella loves to spend her days. She stares out the window for hours at a time. It's cute.

Day 28

2009-02-18T00:06:00.001-06:00

Day 28
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

Alright. It's back and hopefully better than ever.

More 365 to come...

2009-02-13T21:24:00.001-06:00

Jamie is taking a short hiatus from the 365 project due to lack of inspiration from our household objects and the weather being crappy and both of us being sick. Stay tuned...

Cracked Rib?

2009-02-02T22:22:00.002-06:00

So the latest in my health issues...I drove home this past weekend to celebrate my mom's birthday in Chicago. Before going to bed Friday night, I started coughing and felt something pop or crack on my right side, near my back. Earlier in the week I had had a coughing attack that left me with a pulled muscle in my back on the right side. I don't know for sure, but I think I may have cracked my rib. It hurt like crazy after I felt the pop and I was out of commission for most of the weekend. We were going to a spa on Saturday to get facials and I was going to get a massage but after Friday night, I decided to get a pedicure instead so it wouldn't leave me more injured. I've been sleeping on my back since Friday night which stinks since I'm a side sleeper, and I still have a lingering cough from the pneumonia and it hurts every time I cough. Thank goodness for Ibuprofen and leftover codeine cough syrup from being sick.

Day 28

2009-01-29T00:02:00.003-06:00

Day 28
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

Here are our wedding rings...it's a little cliche, but I like it.

Day 27

2009-01-29T00:02:00.001-06:00

Day 27
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

This is my work laptop's keyboard. I like the little blue button...

Day 26

2009-01-29T00:01:00.001-06:00

Day 26
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

It's a heater great....it keeps us warm.

Day 25

2009-01-29T00:00:00.001-06:00

Day 25
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

Yeah, I don't love this, but it's all I got.

Day 24

2009-01-24T18:44:00.001-06:00

Day 24
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

this is from a church door downtown. I don't love it, but it was so cold I couldn't stay outside any longer to take some other pictures.

Day 23

2009-01-24T18:43:00.001-06:00

Day 23
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

mmm mmm good.

Day 22

2009-01-24T18:40:00.001-06:00

Day 22
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

Rachel is finally caught up on Lost, so this picture is honor of that.

Pneumonia

2009-01-24T15:17:00.002-06:00

So I guess I have pneumonia now instead of just bronchitis. I was feeling worse by the end of the week...my cough got worse and I could tell I was wheezing more so I went back to the doctor last night after work. They did a chest x-ray and though it looked like it could be pneumonia. He also gave me a nebulizer treatment to help me breathe a little better and sent me home with an albuterol inhaler (I did think it was a little funny that even though he told the nurse I was a pharmacist, she still explained the side effects of the nebulizer treatment to me...) I also finally got a prescription for an antibiotic which is great. I'm also not supposed to work (well can't do much about that when you have to be there to open the pharmacy) and get plenty of rest which I'm planning on doing today and tomorrow. I'm just glad I don't get sick very often.

Day 21

2009-01-21T22:48:00.001-06:00

Day 21
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

I love M&M's...

Day 20

2009-01-21T22:47:00.001-06:00

Day 20
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

Day 20 is brought to you by the letter "G".

Day 19

2009-01-19T22:20:00.001-06:00

Day 19
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

Bella likes to sleep curled up under our curtain. It's adorable, but it gets them covered in hair...

I also found this picture of her I took when she was a puppy...

Sick

2009-01-19T21:36:00.002-06:00

So I actually broke down and went to the doctor today. Most of the time when I get sick, I just suffer for a few days and ride it out. I have been coughing since Friday and over the weekend started getting chills and feeling achy as well. This morning I went in a little late to work and only stayed for about 3 hours. I knew I wasn't going to last on my feet all day once I got there. So I left and decided to go to the doctor because I was feeling pretty awful. I tried calling Jamie's doctor but couldn't get in there til Wednesday. So I went over to the Urbandale Family Physicians Walk-in clinic. Unfortunately I ended up having to wait almost 2 hours before actually seeing the doctor. And during that whole time I was waiting, I gradually felt worse and worse. I had the chills so bad that it hurt plus the body achiness did not feel good. I had a flu shot this year so he didn't think it was the flu. They drew some blood but the numbers came back fairly normal...so the diagnosis...viral bronchitis. No antibiotics, just plenty of rest and fluids. He did say that if I felt worse tomorrow to come back and they'd do a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. Luckily I have the day off tomorrow so I can take it easy and get some rest.

Day 18

2009-01-18T22:05:00.001-06:00

Day 18
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

This is the light I built a few weeks ago. It's basically foam core, a clamp light, a 150W bulb (though I'd rather have a higher watt bulb), duct tape and a t-shirt stretched across the face. It works really well for lighting small objects.

Des Moines Community Ed Classes

2009-01-18T21:30:00.003-06:00

So Jamie and I were talking about maybe signing up for a Community Ed class, like maybe a cooking class or something like that. I found some rather strange classes listed on their website:

-Advanced Bath Salts-Go beyond just mixing fragrance with Epsom salts!
-All Natural Lotions from Scratch
-Life Collages/Vision Board-Using right-brain techniques, participants will learn to design goals and projects through magazine images.
-Scottish Country Dancing, Beginning-Learn a Celtic dance from the 1700's
-Basics of Cooking and Baking with a Wood-Burning Stove
-Historic Soups on a Wood-burning Stove
-How to Write a Romance Novel
-1875 Victorian Hatmaking-Learn to make an elegant 1875 hat from start to finish just as a Victorian milliner would have done....interesting.
And in case you have a small head....
-1875 Victorian Hats in Miniature

Lost!

2009-01-17T22:00:00.002-06:00

So I'm still playing catch-up to watching Lost before Season 5 starts next week. I've been watching the episodes (starting in Season 1) since last summer and I'm finally to the middle part of Season 4. I did take a hiatus in the fall and winter when life got busy but have been watching and watching for the last few weeks to catch up. I can't believe everything that has happened...the others, people being killed, stories from the future, "time traveling", boats, helicopters, surprises, suspense! I'm not looking forward to having to wait a whole week or summer to watch a new episode! Nothing beats having them all on DVD and watching them one right after another. I think I'm up to Episode 7, Season 4...halfway to go before Wednesday night!

day 17

2009-01-17T18:25:00.001-06:00

day 17
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

It wasn't much warmer today. Sure, my face didn't hurt like the last two days, but it is still too cold. On top of the cold, it was pretty dreary, so not great photography conditions. Perhaps tomorrow will be a better day.

Day 16 - New Year's Resolution

2009-01-16T22:19:00.001-06:00

Day 16 - New Year's Resolution
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

My new year's resolution is going poorly...Maybe if Rachel would stop buying ice cream, I would stop eating it...

It's supposed to be warming tomorrow! I'll get to go take some photos outside...very exciting.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

2009-01-15T22:34:00.002-06:00

I don't remember the last time it was this cold outside! Overnight it hit -20 degrees F! Jamie worked from today so he didn't have to go outside and wait at the bus stop and I luckily don't work on Thursdays so also got to stay home. I ventured outside to go to the post office to mail a couple post-Christmas packages and then to go to our friends' house for Thursday dinner. When I started my car to go to the post office though, it definitely struggled and it took a couple tries before it decided to turn on.

They canceled school in Des Moines and all the other surrounding cities today because it was so cold too! Bella still wanted to go outside, like usual....she must have forgotten after she came back in how cold it was out there!

Luckily we're supposed to have a warm up this weekend and the beginning of next week...in the 30's! Woo hoo!

Day 15 - Boots

2009-01-15T22:28:00.001-06:00

Day 15 - Boots
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

It's so stinking cold outside! I'm tired of taking pictures inside, but it's currently -16F. Yikes. The good news is that it's supposed to be up to 36F on Saturday. I'll probably have to break out the shorts...

Day 14

2009-01-15T12:33:00.001-06:00

Day 14
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

It's currently -16F outside. Brrrrrr. I'm having a hard time finding more interesting things to photograph inside, so here's our cute dog again.

Day 13

2009-01-15T12:32:00.001-06:00

Day 13
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

it's too cold outside, so I'm confined to our house...Here are some wine bottles in our rack...

Day 12 - Spiral

2009-01-12T23:38:00.001-06:00

Day 12 - Spiral
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

The theme of the week is spirals...So here is a spiral notebook. I know, very creative....

Day 11

2009-01-11T22:17:00.001-06:00

Day 11
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

Took a few pictures of Bella playing in the snow today...She sure does love to romp in the snow.

Tip of the Day: The Dali Chicken at P.F. Chang's is really spicy...the waitress warned me and she was right. It's edible and tasty, but really hot. Be warned.

day 10

2009-01-10T23:17:00.001-06:00

day 10
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

So I love Ticket to Ride. If you don't know what it is, you are missing out. It's a fantastic board game...

my 150W light bulb burned out in the light I built...you can tell her that the 100W I replaced it with doesn't do as well...the light is flat and too low.

i'll be buying a 150W tomorrow so I can do better for days 11-365.

Day 9

2009-01-10T00:52:00.001-06:00

Day 9
Originally uploaded by Pierpont Photography

Here is day nine...We do love our Starbucks.

We just got home from playing games at Manda's. It snowed like 3-4 inches while we were there. Then when we got home, I fell in the snow and landed right on our Ticket to Ride box. While it's a fun game, it's not very comfortable to fall on. The corner jabbed me in my chest. Ouch.

Lesson: Play Ticket to Ride, don't fall on it.